Veronica [Import] [Paperback]

Nicholas Christopher (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 329 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059303998X
• ISBN-13: 978-0593039984
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "... the uncanny is made to seem commonplace ..., April 26, 2001

By 

Wayne Scott "wayne-san" (Atlantic Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Veronica (Paperback)

... and the commonplace unfathomable" ~~ The New Yorker.

Couldn't have said it better. This is one of those books that I could not put down. "gmesa" (another reviewer) commented that it left them "feeling oddly cold despite the wonder". I can easily understand that reaction. Read on ...

Every chapter in this book left me feeling as though I was remembering a dream, (which can leave one feeling oddly detached, as though standing outside of one's self and watching) and left me trying to recall all the details and understand the meaning of what it was I had just seen. I suppose that's what happens when you get a novel by a poet. I like it. Alot.

This is one of those books where you are quite happy to suspend disbelief as you find yourself at the unlikely spot in Manhattan "... where Waverly Place intersects Waverly Place ..." and go along for the ride.

If you're so inclined, there is an extensive bibliography that makes for some very "curious" late night reading, if you can find all of the titles. Under the general heading of "Wayne-san's Trivia", the term Feng Shui entered my vocabulary when I read this book. I don't recall what, if any, Feng Shui title is in the bibliography, but a must-have title is "Feng-Shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times" by Eva Wong. (ISBN: 1570621004). You'll find no author with better credentials in the art (but if you do, e-mail me), and her accounts of apprenticing to her uncle will give you some insight that there is more to Feng Shui then deciding where to put the sofa. Pay attention to "Veronica", and you'll understand why I mention this ...

I've read, re-read, and given this as a gift. That's the best recommendation I can give any book. Enjoy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a wonderful, wonderful book!, January 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Veronica (Mass Market Paperback)

This is, without a doubt, one of my very favorite books ever. I have read and reread it several times. You do have to "suspend disbelief" and just go with it. This is an incredibly beautifully-written story with mystery, romance, intrigue, and magic all interwoven into a magnificent tapestry that seems to unfold into infinity. I didn't want this story to end! It made me want to go find where Waverly Place intersects Waverly Place some snowy night and see if something magical happens.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jazz and Magic in 80's Manhattan, May 31, 2000

By 

Craig L. Gidney "ethereallad" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Veronica (Paperback)

Leo is photographer in the SoHo district of New York City. One day in the middle of winter, he runs into an extraordinary and unusual woman with one green eye, the other blue. Veronica subtly and knowingly draws him into her life. At first, things seem strange, but only in an arty, jaded NYCer kind of way. But gradually, Veronica draws Leo into her complex, and mysterious mission. Leo begins to see the city in a surrealistic way. Hidden passages, strange dreams, odd coincidences abound whenever his new lover Veronica is around. It's only a matter of time before things nosedive into the supernatural. For Veronica is the daughter of a magician who was cast into the past by a rival magican; it is only by an arcane, magical ritual, involving Leo that she can rescue her father. Christopher mixes eclectic strains of arcana -- from the alchemy of John Dee to the Feng Shui arrangements of Chinese customs, plus time travel, and imbues them with the ambiance of a film-noir movie. When the plot takes off, it is relentless. Christopher's writing is lovely, and his characters are quirky and offbeat. Imagine "The Maltese Falcon" co-directed by Terry Gilliam, Jim Jarmusch, and Derek Jarman, with a soundtrack by Charles Mingus, and sets by Salvador Dali, and you have this delightfully strange novel.