After Silence

by Jonathan Carroll

Book Overview

Cult favorite Jonathan Carroll has surpassed himself with his first mainstreamnovel. After Silence is an electrifying, unforgettable novel that unfolds with the logic of a Greek tragedy. Carroll... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385473516
• ISBN13: 9780385473514
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Main Street Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

another masterpiece from Carroll

Jonathan Carroll is a remarkable author. His works are beautifully written and his plots are exciting and unique as all get-out, simultaneously whimsical and devastating, with fully drawn intriguing characters in extraordinary situations. In this novel, Max is a cartoonist who is gun shy about romance until he meets Lily, a fascinating single mother who reciprocates his love. Max is loved and accepted by Lily and her son Lincoln, and they're incredibly happy. Then Max finds out something terrible about Lily, and from the moment he makes his decision about how to react to this news, he sets all their lives on a course that may well end in tragedy. There are few fantastical elements in this novel; unlike many of Carroll's other works, this is pretty straightforward, and calls attention to his seamless writing, natural dialogue and deep characterizations. If you haven't read anything by Carroll, please do so. He is a treasure. Also, check out his web site for screenplays and short stories: jonathancarroll.com

Good novel, but not Carroll's best to be certain.

If you're looking to start on Jonathan Carroll's works, this might be a nice place start because it's easier for the average reader to get into than a number of his better novels, which demand a more open mind and greater suspension of disbelief, but which subsequently yield greater rewards. "After Silence" is a nice novel but one that feels a bit more dated than most of his other works. I read it 7 years ago, and while it felt somewhat more contemporary, that isn't really the problem. It lacks the strong sense of the author's impossibly dead-on sight with which he views the world and filters those sensibilities through a warped glass back to his readers, as well as more of his trademark flights of fantasy and fancy found elsewhere. I'm rather shocked the editorial reviews give away so much of the book - that's a shame. But in case it seems like I'm taking a lot of shots at this book, I did give it 4 stars, and I did enjoy it. Ironically, if it were a book from an author I'd never heard of, I'd be heaping more praise on it. Max Fischer is a Los Angeles cartoonist whose life is missing a little something. He finds it in love of a woman, Lily, who has an interesting and lovable son, Lincoln. She works at a homey, warm restaurant that brings a lot of joy and some interesting characters into their lives. Max finds out a secret about Lily. He says and does nothing about it virtually. We move ahead in time. The secret ends up having disastrous effects, but it is not clear at all that Max could've done anything to prevent what happened. That's the rub. Even if he acted on the secret and told the concerned party, the end may have been inevitable. This book is pervaded by a strong sense of loss. How does a child so bright and wonderful, full of so much curiousity and love, turn into such a cynical, hateful *thing*? How do such relationships go wrong? We see this sense of horrifying loss and the psychological, emotional, and physical beatings life inflicts on people in an interesting scene with one of Lincoln's friends and Max, a scene of what is sometimes called "magical realism" of which Carroll makes more ample use of in other novels. "After Silence" is a very good book, well-written, but as I said before, it is not Carroll's best. It's a decent place to start out, it's a lot more grounded in reality and straightforward than many of his novels. This one is still one of his better novels though. If I had to do some improvisational ranking, however, I did prefer "The Wooden Sea," "Land of Laughs," "From The Teeth Of Angels," "Sleeping In Flame," the collection "The Panic Hand," and "Outside the Dog Museum" to "After Silence." Just my opinion at this point and time. Make no mistake about it though - this is a genuinely affecting novel. Recommended.

A nightmare in three parts

JC has always been very deceptive in his style: simple language, many fantastic elements, and heartwarming moments. However, all these elements are accompanied with severe dark fantasy or even horror.I find this book to be the most extreme example of what I just cited. A deceptively simple story starts with the hero falling in love with a single mother, goes on with his discovery and eventual acceptance of the mother's dark secret, and ends with the consequences of such an an acceptance. It is a love story that ends like an ancient greek tragedy: complete devastation.In an uncharacteristic manner, this story has very little fantasy in it and all of it crammed at the very end which makes the feeling of devastation strangely real and permanent.I highly reccomended it.

one of Carroll's most addictive novels

After Silence is one of Carroll's most addictive novels. I got sucked into the story and had a hard time putting it down. Like all of his novels, the sudden ending may put some readers off but I felt it summed up the novel perfectly. Definately a good place to start for those new to Carroll.

Not his best, but still a must-read.

It's not Carroll's best book, but saying that is like saying the 9th wasn't Beethoven's best symphony. A wonderful book with such effective characterization (Carroll's forte) that the characters haunt you long after you finish. Perhaps my best recommendation is that I read the whole thing in one day. I began at 10pm one night, and finished at 4:30 the next morning. I tried to stop reading about 3am, and got as far as turning the light off, but in the end I got back up and read the rest of it