The Marriage of Sticks

by Jonathan Carroll

Book Overview

Miranda Romanac is a successful thirtysomething woman in today's modern world, yet she feels alone and adrift on the sea of her life. At her high school reunion she makes a shattering discovery that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312871937
• ISBN13: 9780312871932
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary

A friend who knows my taste in books suggested I read Jonathan Carroll. She told me she was sure I would like his writing and she was right. I do. Although I bought three "Carroll books," I chose to read "The Marriage of Sticks" first because it seemed the most interesting. I especially liked the fact that I would find elements of both fantasy and horror in this book.It seems to me that Carroll has what might be termed a "cult following" and this is, in one sense, a shame. While it's certainly not bad to have avid fans (I am now one of those fans), Carroll is such a good storyteller and such a first-rate writer that he really deserves to be far more widely read, especially in his native United States.The fantasy of Jonathan Carroll is not the fantasy of Marian Zimmer Bradley and her legends of Arthuriana. It is not the fantasy of Tolkien. Carroll's books do not contain kings and queens, wizards and warriors or frogs who become princes when kissed by fair princesses. Don't get me wrong; I like that kind of fantasy, but I love Carroll's own unique brand, too.Jonathan Carroll seems to write about everyday people in everyday settings. In the case of "The Marriage of Sticks," the "everyday" people are Miranda Romanac and Hugh Oakley, both people who love, hate, make friends, have careers and families and pets and, on the surface, at least, seem to want to do the best in life."Seem to want," seems to be a crucial phrase when talking about a Jonathan Carroll book. For his characters seem to be far more than we would have guessed had we met them at a dinner party or an outdoor cafe. They have strange, sometimes macabre, undercurrents and emotional lives that are often in a state of constant turmoil. And this is what makes them so interesting and compelling and alive. Fascinating even. We love to read about them, but we sure wouldn't want to be one of them.The first half of "The Marriage of Sticks" belongs to Miranda and seems to be more of a realistic (though passionate) love story than anything supernatural. This is just part of Carroll's subtlety and delicacy and skill as a writer. When the supernatural elements make a stronger appearance, as they do in the second half of the book, we are well prepared for them, though we may not realize it at first.Miranda Romanac is a woman who wants, and needs, to love. She's a warm and giving person, but she is a warm and giving person with one huge flaw...she preys upon others in a most unique way. It is this one terrible flaw, personified in the character of Frances Hatch, that will come to overshadow and torment Miranda's life (and Hugh's) in the most terrible of ways.When Miranda and Hugh move into Frances' former home, Crane's View, the supernatural gains a firmer hold. I think the readers who didn't like the second half of this book might have rushed too quickly through the first half. I have a feeling that Carroll's subtle preparation for what is to come may be lost on readers who try to

A wonderful, bewildering experience

I just finished The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll this morning, and it was a wonderful, bewildering experience. Reading Carroll is like talking to that exciting friend of yours; you know the one, the person that makes you go places you wouldn't normally go, see things you wouldn't normally see, talk to people you would normally stare at quietly from across the room. If you EVER see a book by Jonathan Carroll on the bookshelves (he's typically listed in the Literature section, alongside Don De Lillo and Chinua Achebe and J.G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut and those fortunate enough to have escaped genre classification), grab it and don't let go. His books are very hard to find nowadays, and it's a rare treat to see one in a store. Tor, lovely book publisher that they are, have taken to reprinting some of his earlier books in a trade paperback, and The Marriage of Sticks is one of them, though it only came out a few years ago. This is Carroll's second-to-latest novel, it is the most similar to The Wooden Sea, in respect to style and technique and storytellingness. And characterization. Carroll's characters simply leap off the page and whisper their story in your ear. He has the phenomenal ability of drawing you into the story, like a big brother at a campfire. Carroll's books are to be treasured, and to be snagged wherever you can manage to find a copy.

Carroll writes another beautiful book.

Fans of Jonathan Carroll know what it's like to crave for something else by this man to read. So when The Marriage of Sticks came out, a sigh of relief was heard round the world. It's like a drug, and just when our DTs were getting their worst, we get another hit of Carroll. This is a magnificent book and absolutely beautiful in parts, which is hard to come by these days. If anyone cares what I think, I recommend this highly.

Every segment has some little surprise and delight!

Im so totally awestruck and in love that I HAD to run right in here and talk to you about it! I have never been so impressed with a writer. He doesn't do any fancy dancing--no literary gimmicks...but man oh man, this Carroll can WRITE!His newest book Marriage of the Sticks starts off in a very ordinary way--a high school reunion. So ordinary that I thought, uh oh...I'm going to be disappointed. But then he slowly starts introducing characters that I would LOVE to know! I really really want to sit down and talk to them. Every darn time he taps into something so odd yet familiar, something really appealing. I just don't know how he's doing this, but he writes about such interesting things and thoughts. And I've just read a couple of paragraphs that are worth the price of the book and the shipping from England! (it will be out here in september I think) Where does he GET these ideas???? I'm not saying what it is because it's too savory. You should come across it and discover it for yourself if you read this book. Now of course, one of the notions imbued in the reading of Carroll is a tension-ANYTHING could happen. So every knock on a door makes you wonder who might reappear; every dog that enters a room makes you ask...could this be Vanasque or someone I'll love? Every segment has some little surprise and delight. The main character in this one is a woman () and she deals in rare books and other precious objects. The incidental characters (at least I think they are) are intriguing and yet unexplained in full. But they have flesh even though they only pass through a scene or two. The ideas....the things he talks about . . . it's like taking a mental bubble bath; I just want to soak and roll in sheer delight.Can one fall in love just by reading a man's words, even though they're intended for millions? I feel so foolish, but this guy amazes me! Again!

I loved every minute of it

Every time Jonathan Carroll publishes a book I put my world on hold and happily go live in the new one he has created. The nicest thing about his books is I always get the feeling they are talking directly to me and not anyone else. The main character in THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS is a woman in her early thirties who is sort of stuck in her life and doesn't know which way to turn. Me too. But reading Carroll and seeing what he has to say about the subject helped in many ways for me to see my own problems more clearly and maybe even find a way through them. This has happened with every single book of his I have ever read and that is the main reason why I will go on reading Jonathan Carroll. As one of the blurbs say, his work is addictive.