In the hands of a more facile writer, this could have been a phenomenal book. The story is imaginative and inventive, combining abstract concepts of Jung and turning them into concrete physical reality. Carroll is not a bad writer--he gets the job done, but with too much whimsy and not enough atmosphere. The story has a fluid arc and he ties loose ends together. However, there is no muscle to his prose and no heft to his characterizations. The story has a profound and powerful theme, but it bordered on sugary at times and left no room for moral ambiguity. A very creative story suffered from an uninspiring, mundane narrative and portrayal.
Ben Gould has a brush with death and survives, now accompanied by his ghost. The human struggle to become an integrated whole instead of just living on the surface of our thoughts and actions is universal. Jung identified the subconscious, the unconscious, and the conscious parts of our nature. He noted that unless we are enlightened to these aspects of ourselves, we tend to live narrowly on the surface, conscious state. But the underlying fears, feelings, and buried experiences impede us when we do not acknowledge them and deal with the complexities and contradictions that have accumulated. What Carroll does is make these mental states manifest in physical form in order that some of his characters can literally confront their conflicted, repressed, and suppressed "selves" and fully integrate into a whole, vital self. Ben's journey, which is initially circumspect, is a quest for wholeness. We are our own worst enemies! What a beautiful and humane concept for a story.
Ben's age is left out, as well as his personality. He hasn't allowed himself to blossom. This imperils his relationship with his now ex-girlfriend, German, who is a bit more satisfying but still suffers from lackluster appeal. Carroll's descriptions may have been intentionally vague, especially with Ben, to illuminate his lack of full engagement with life. However, German's character, which is a counterpoint to Ben's, did not lift-off for me. She was sweet and bland and forgettable.
The ghost has an essential role,(and I do not want to give away the ghost's raison d'etre) but is a little too precious--I do not think the author intended that, but he didn't pull off his design with allure. Even when the ghost's presence is understood toward the end of the novel, I winced at the overly adorable character.
Rounding out the cast are Jung's archetypes, (a necessary ingredient in Jung's psychology), a woman who shares something poignant with Ben, some ingenious anthropomorphic creatures, and Ben and German's dog. It is the dog, Pilot, who was the most interesting and fully developed. Most of the other characters are eccentric with a limited supply of essence, although important to the dynamics of the story.
The innovative plot is refreshing and ripe. I would give 5 stars for its provocative creativity and intelligence. That is what kept me reading to the story's completion.
The mood and atmosphere remain the biggest problems in the narrative. This is a surreal world with (supposedly) eerie juxtapositions and some creepy, idiosyncratic characters. Individuals and scenes flicker in and out and time is a loose concept, which could be very suspenseful and unearthly. But the prose style and language choices annihilate the story's suspense--it is too banal and lacks the sensuousness and shimmer that would have provided texture and tautness. I did not thoroughly inhabit the world that Carroll created because I was not sensually pulled into it; dramatic tension disappeared with the ghost because of the bland execution of story.
A visionary director may conceivably make this novel into a compelling movie. By furnishing the film with nuances and subtleties of story and blending a haunting atmosphere with macabre wit, rich characters, and psychological intensity, this could achieve with a camera what it failed to communicate with prose.
