Customer Reviews

These Demented Lands

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These Demented Lands, Alan Warner's second novel is a sequel of sorts to his highly praised first novel, Morvern Callar. These Demented Lands is a dark, eerie, surreal and sometimes hilarious journey into the landscape of postmodern literature. Warner's characters are carefully crafted and highly memorable and posses many of the qualities of archetypes. The novel, itself, is somewhat of a dark and stormy post-apocalyptic fantasy.

The book's protagonist is Morvern Callar, herself. As the novel opens, Morvern is swimming away from a sinking ship, a small girl in tow. After returning the child safely home, Morvern begins her own strange journey across the island. Rumors concerning the fate of the other passengers on board the ship abound and, as they do, a host of newcomers descends on the island. Morvern meets, and is immediately attracted to, a mysterious man known only as the Aircrash Investigator. Although he seems to be pillaging the island's makeshift fences and sheds for crash debris, his real purpose is something of a mystery.

Warner has peopled his novel with an odd assortment of characters, yet each one is perfect and perfectly-drawn. Besides Morvern, herself, and the Aircrash Investigator, there is Devil's Advocate, a cigar-smoking fat man who assesses candidates for sainthood; there is Brotherhood, the owner of the Drome Hotel, a popular honeymoon resort; and a DJ who is determined to put together the biggest party the island has ever known. The myriad of minor characters that live in the pages of this novel are just as perfect.

The prose in These Demented Lands can be difficult at times, especially for those who prefer a more flowing style. Warner, however, is one of the most talented writers now at work and this book is superbly told with Morvern's own independent and unflinching frankness. The dialogue is sometimes as absurd as is the character speaking, but this only enhances the book's believability and its appeal as well as its strangeness. Warner's story does parallel certain Christian myths, in a surreal sort of way, as should soon become apparent, from the characters' strange names, if nothing else. And, although this is a dark book, some of the dialogue is hilariously funny.

These Demented Lands is a complex story about complex characters. It is too bad it has been somewhat overlooked in favor of more commercial but far less polished books. Alan Warner is an extraordinarily good writer and These Demented Lands is an extraordinarily good novel.

This highly praised book was extremely well-written but not as well plotted as I expected it to be. I realize the story was more surrealistic than realistic, but I feel both the Drome Hotel and the character of DJ Cormorant should have played a larger role in the story.

The characters were as twisted and demented as the story of which they are a part. I felt distanced from them but I think this is to be expected when reading a story such as this one.

I enjoyed this highly-imaginative book as a change of pace and it's obvious that Alan Warner is an innovative, original and brilliant writer. I think These Demented Lands will appeal to those who enjoy surrealistic, hallucinatory, postmodern literature. Those who require more conventionally plotted stories will probably be disappointed. Nevertheless, if you're looking for something different, give this well-written book a try.

the sequel, in an unconventional manner, to warner's first novel 'Morvern Callar'; 'these demented lands' is more gothic, more removed from real-life and more unexpected. the stunning heroine, the said morvern, is witty and a far cry from a sappy female lead. wonderful.

What a mess this is... This "darkly intoxicating brew" (The Guardian) picks up the story of young a young Scottish lass (see his debut, "Morvern Callar") as she returns from the continent. She comes to a wee little island where honeymooners stay at a weird hotel, and there's a cast of supporting bizarros. Really tough to get through and none too rewarding despite occasionally clever language at times. Warner's got talent, but try his much more accesible "The Sopranos" before trying this.

While "These Demented Lands" may dress up as oblique, it is fairly pale stuff compared to any number of actual surrealist works ("Nadja", "Magnetic Fields", "The Lost Steps", "The Communicating Vessels", etc.) and more coherent than -- at moments -- the charming tyranny of the Belle Époque's "Le Chant de Maldoror". The point being that Warner's work is not by definition "surreal". As for contemporary examples, well, Philip K. Dick comes to mind, but his work is typically more clear in purpose.

So, only guessing here, but the book's conception seems to seek to address some consequence of the actions without consequence that drew such a luminous outline around the ethical blank vividly portrayed in and by "Morvern Callar". As such, it seems an interesting exercise to this reader, shading the impressions of what went before in a different context. Due to its fantastic nature however, these trials usually seem less portentous than the ultimate non-events occurring in the assumed "real world" of the former book and its still curious model railway component. But there seem to be many flaws, least of which might be holding off on identifying the main character until the very end -- short of a few obvious tells -- which strikes me as needlessly manipulative and, worst case, cliché -- a cheap trick. And the greatest of which might be the profound change in voice that occurs about half way through "These Demented Lands". Stripped of the stylistic colouring of Morvern's original first-person narrative, Warner's prose seems to go flat, becoming less distinct, less compelling and far more like many things other than. Still, credit to the author for a valid and brave experiment in avoiding the formulaic trap of many and other writers.

This is a great book, continuing the story from Morvern Callar. However at times it is very confusing and the beginning does not make much sense to most people, but don't give up it all becomes clear as the book progresses.

Not as straightforward as Morvern Callar but when you get into the characters it is really amazing.

This book is a wonderful set of characterisations, and it follows on well from Morvern Callar, but is a classic example of a book written in a hurry, i.e after the success of morvern callar (fantastic book) The storyline ducks and weavs as morvern (not called by name anywhere through the book except at the very end) travels over the island (any guesses where? Four letters - begins with M) to botherhoods hotle where she encounters the aircrash investigator, and from there the storyline progresses.

Great book - a little more time would have made a difference perhaps