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Jonathan Carroll

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The Land of Laughs: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Jonathan Carroll (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 229 ratings

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Have you ever loved a magical book above all others? Have you ever wished the magic were real? Welcome to The Land of Laughs. A novel about how terrifying that would be.

Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wants--in life, in love, or in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life nothing has touched him so deeply as the novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four.

Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they're surprised to find France's daughter warmly welcoming instead. But slowly they begin to see that something fantastic and horrible is happening. The magic of Marshall France has extended far beyond the printed page...leaving them with a terrifying task to undertake.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thomas Abbey is a man stuck in a rut. An English teacher in a small Connecticut prep school, Abbey is in a crisis. His career is unfulfilling, he has no social or love life to speak of, and he cannot break out of the shadow of his famous father, the actor Stephen Abbey. To kick-start his life, he takes a sabbatical to work on a biography of his favorite writer, Marshall France. France's books were the only thing that kept Abbey sane during his childhood, and though he was renowned for his lyrical and imaginative children's books, nearly nothing was known about the writer's life.

Although Abbey has been warned that France's daughter Anna has blocked all previous attempts at her father's biography, he and Saxony Garder--an intense woman also obsessed with France's life--head to Galen, Missouri, with high hopes of breaking down Anna's resistance. They are surprised to find Anna the soul of small-town hospitality and quite excited about Abbey's proposal--even eager to get the project finished as soon as possible. Even stranger than Anna's behavior is the town of Galen itself. On the surface, all is as a small midwestern town should be. But the people of the town seem to know what their future holds--freak accidents and all--down to the hour and are as eager for Abbey to finish the biography as Anna is.

As far as plot goes, The Land of Laughs doesn't break any new ground--it is a riff on a very old literary theme--and the more interesting issues the story raises--fate, free will, and the creative power of the written word--receive only a glancing blow as the story careens to its somewhat unsatisfying Gothic ending. That said, Carroll does show a good ear for dialogue and a deft hand at creating complex characters and quietly ominous moods. And the story--hoary plot line and all--immediately grabs you and doesn't let go. If you already know Jonathan Carroll from his other novels, you will want to add this reissue of his first novel to your library. And if you haven't yet been introduced to this inventive author, The Land of Laughs is the perfect place to begin. --Perry M. Atterberry

Review

"Jonathan Carroll is a cult waiting to happen." --Pat Conroy

"The Land of Laughs is a book for anyone who has ever believed that a favorite book could be a safe place to go when things get hard." --Neil Gaiman

"I envy anyone who has yet to enjoy the sexy, eerie, and addictive novels of Jonathan Carroll. They are delicious treats--with devilish tricks inside them." --The Washington Post

About the Author

Jonathan Carroll has written twenty books including Bathing the Lion, The Woman Who Married a Cloud, The Crow’s Dinner, and The Land Of Laughs. His new novel Mr. Breakfast will be published by Melville House in January 2023. He lives in Vienna.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

"Look, Thomas, I know you've probably been asked this question a million times before, but what was it really like to be Stephen Abbey's--"
"--Son?" Ah, the eternal question. I recently told my mother that my name isn't Thomas Abbey, but rather Stephen Abbey's Son. This time I sighed and pushed what was left of my cheesecake around the plate. "It's very hard to say. I just remember him as being very friendly, very loving. Maybe he was just stoned all the time."
Her eyes lit up at that. I could almost hear the sharp little wheels clickety-clicking in her head. So he was an addict! And it came straight from his kid's mouth. She tried to cover her delight by being understanding and giving me a way out if I wanted it.
"I guess, like everyone else, I've always read a lot about him. But you never know if those articles are true or not, you know?"
I didn't feel like talking about it anymore. "Most of the stories about him are probably pretty true. The ones I've heard about or read are." Luckily the waitress was passing, so I was able to make a big thing out of getting the bill, looking it over, paying it--anything to stop the conversation.
When we got outside, December was still there and the cold air smelled chemical, like a refinery or a tenth-grade chemistry class deep into the secrets of stink. She slipped her arm through mine. I looked at her and smiled. She was pretty--short red hair, green eyes that were always wide with a kind of happy astonishment, a nice body. So I couldn't help smiling then too, and for the first time that night I was glad she was there with me.
The walk from the restaurant to the school was just a little under two miles, but she insisted on our hiking it both ways. Over would build up our appetites, back would work off what we'd eaten. When I asked her if she chopped her own wood, she didn't even crack a smile. My sense of humor has often been lost on people.
By the time we got back to the school we were pretty chummy. She hadn't asked any more questions about my old man and had spent most of the time telling me a funny story about her gay uncle in Florida.
We got back to Founder's Hall, a masterpiece of neo-Nazi architecture, and I saw that I had stopped us on the school crest laid into the floor. Her arm tightened in mine when she noticed this, and I thought I might as well ask then as anytime.
"Would you like to see my masks?"
She giggled a giggle that sounded like water draining from a sink. Then she shook her finger at me in a no-no-naughty-boy! way.
"You don't mean your etchings, do you?"
I had hoped that she might be half-human, but this dirty little Betty Boop routine popped that balloon. Why couldn't a woman be marvelous for once? Not winky, not liberated, not vacuous…
"No, really, you see, I have this mask collection, and--"
She squeezed me again and cut off the circulation in my upper arm.
"I'm just kidding, Thomas. I'd love to see it."
Like all tight-fisted New England prep schools, the apartments that they gave their teachers, especially single teachers, were awful. Mine had a tiny hallway, a study that was painted yellow once but forgot, a bedroom, and a kitchen so old and fragile that I never once thought of cooking there because I had to pay all of the repair costs.
But I had sprung for a gallon of some top-of-the-line house paint so that at least the wall that the collection was on would have a little dignity.
The only outside door to the place opened onto the hallway, so coming in with her was okay. I was nervous, but I was dying to see how she'd react. She was cuddling and cooing the whole time, but then we went around the corner into my bed-living room.
"Oh, my God! Wha…? Where did you get…?" Her voice trailed off into little puffs of smoke as she went up to take a closer look. "Where did you get, uh, him?"
"In Austria. Isn't it a great one?" Rudy the Farmer was brown and tan and beautifully carved in an almost offhand way that added to his rough, piggy-fat, drunken face. He gleamed too, because I had been experimenting that morning with a new kind of linseed oil that hadn't dried yet.
"But it's…it's almost real. He's shining!"
At that point my hopes went up up up. Was she awed? If so, I'd forgive her. Not many people had been awed by the masks. They got many points from me when they were.
I didn't mind when she reached out to touch some of them as she moved on. I even liked her choice of which ones to touch. The Water Buffalo, Pierrot, the Krampus.
"I started buying them when I was in college. When my father died, he left me some money, so I took a trip to Europe." I went over to the Marquesa and touched her pink-peach chin softly. "This one, the Marquesa, I saw in a little side-street store in Madrid. She was the first one I bought."
My Marquesa with her tortoiseshell combs, her too-white and too-big teeth that had been smiling at me for almost eight years. The Marquesa.
"And what's that one?"
"That's a death mask of John Keats."
"A death mask?"
"Yes. Sometimes when famous people die, they'll make a mold of their faces before they bury them. Then they cast copies…" I stopped talking when she looked at me as if I were Charles Manson.
"But they're just so creepy! How can you sleep in here with them? Don't they scare you?"
"No more than you do, my dear."
That was that. Five minutes later she was gone and I was putting some of the linsfeed oil on another mask.

Copyright © 1980 by Jonathan Carroll

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003E74B88
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orb Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 356 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 254 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,312,204 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,874 in Contemporary Fantasy Fiction
- #7,631 in Magical Realism
- #27,050 in Horror (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 229 ratings

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www.jonathancarroll.com

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constant reader

Surprising magical read

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016

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I often think that no one ever feels more like god than the author of a novel. An author creates characters, gives them their destiny, essence, their very souls; creates places and events for them to experience. In THE LAND OF LAUGHS, Jonathan Carroll’s fictional author Marshall France goes way beyond that because he populates an entire town with characters who come to life. Next, he defines each person’s destiny, and even their afterlife. The town is Galen, Missouri. The citizens are - for the most part - humble, and their lives are really pleasant, though uneventful. They have no afterlife. All is good until France dies. He thinks he’s planned it all out for everyone… written journals that detail the rest of their lives after he’s gone. They all know everything about themselves and are happy with that. Then things start going wrong. Enter our hero.

Thomas Abby doesn’t know about any of this, all he knows is that he loves the works of Marshall France, thinks France is the greatest writer who has ever lived. Wants to write his biography. He has a relationship with a young woman, another “Francophile” named Saxony. Together they go to Galen seeking permission to write the bio. The author’s daughter, Anna, turns out to be sweet, charming, sexy, seductive and very willing to let Thomas tell her father’s story. Abby dives into it enthusiastically, and that’s when things in the little town start to become unusual, then mysterious, and then deadly dangerous.

Carroll uses an unassuming narrative style that feels right in describing the rural life of a Midwestern town. Thomas Abby is quite direct in confiding his initial excitement and later his confusion, ambivalence, and growing fears. The inventive plot-surprises suck you in and keep you turning pages. There are moments of simple but amazing hilarity. But above all, it’s the characters and their interaction in the face of a topsy-turvy world that are so entertaining.

The godlike nature of authors is something a lot of authors like to write about, of course. The idea that their characters become real isn’t new either. What is unique here are the characters themselves, their seemingly straightforward uncomplicated relationships that you just don’t understand fully until the very end. Also, the events are surprisingly unexpected, never seem to add up but finally do… perfectly. THE LAND OF LAUGHS is a very easy and rewarding read, one that’s very difficult to put down or stop thinking about.

5 people found this helpful

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Matthew Lieberman

Very good book - but not perfect

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2005

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I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami (Wind-up bird chronicle is a must read!) and Philip K. Dick and I had seen both of them compared stylistically to Carroll so I thought I would give him a go. I really enjoyed the Land of Laughs. there is a twilight zone aspect to it, however, I didn't find the book stretching on too long - if anything i would agree with those who said its ends too quickly. And yet, on the ending, I would say that it has a better ending than most books in this genre that want to lull around in an unusual world but can't bring the plot to clean satisfying ending.

From what I've read LOL was Carroll's first book so I wouldn't want to draw any strong conclusions, but I did find that the writing wasn't as wrong as some other storytellers like Robertson Davies or Murakami. But it was a very good book and I suspect I'll be reading another of his books within a month.

5 people found this helpful

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G. Messersmith

My First Jonathan Carroll Novel

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2013

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This is the first time I have read Jonathan Carroll but it definitely won't be the last. Carroll's protagonist, Thomas Abbey, is the son of a famous author who has grown up to be an English teacher at a prep school in the Northeast. But the true love of Abbey's life is an author, Marshall France, who wrote his favorite childhood books who died of a heart attack in his forties. Abbey decides to go to France's hometown of Galen, Missouri, and do a biography of France. Before he goes though he meets a woman in a bookstore where they both want the same rare title of one of France's books. This woman's name is Saxony Gardner and she tells Abbey she will be his research assistant on France's biography, thus their adventure begins.

Together the happy couple arrive in Galen and instead of the cold shoulder they were expecting they are received with open arms, even France's daughter, Anna, is happy they are there. Pretty soon Anna lets Abbey have access to all of France's materials, i.e., letters, postcards, journals, old pictures, any and everything available. But before long Thomas and Saxony realize this town is not what it seems. The magic of Marshall France has reached far beyond the printed page. It becomes quite a page turner after this with ups and downs and the reader wondering what is going to happen next.

I understand that this is a reprint of his 1980 book but it is still fresh, timely and inventive. Carroll is a wonderful writer and I am so glad I have found him and can't wait to read his other novels. I don't care if you haven't read a book in 10 years or more you must go out and find a copy of "The Land of Laughs" and read it immediately, you will not be disappointed.

6 people found this helpful

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William Petree

True Oddball Classic

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2023

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I Love this Novel, but Reading It Again I Found it Mildly Problematic On Occasion. The only reason I'm Writing this Review is so maybe someone much younger who might really dig it, will actually read it. Ignore a few false notes.

2 people found this helpful

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Rhyder S.

Good concept - faulty execution

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2013

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I bought this book (Kindle and audiobook, whispersync compatible) because it was selected on audible.com by Neil Gaiman. I've loved every book Gaiman has written so I thought I would enjoy it. I see other reviewers referring to it as a "classic" - I think that is something of an overstatement. I found the concept to be interesting and I normally enjoy this type of fiction/fantasy - its a sort of magical realism. I enjoyed the book but I found the writing style to be irritating (obviously this is a subjective opinion). Some of the metaphors and similes used by the author are just plain silly and I found them jarring and forced. Without giving away any spoilers: books of this type require that you suspend disbelief and I'm more than willing to do that, but the best fantastical fiction is internally consistent - this book has huge plot holes and logical inconsistencies. It isn't bad but based on the reviews I read I expected it to be a lot better. The book gets 3 stars for an innovative plot concept but it falls down when it comes to execution.

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readbyashleyd

Magical!

Reviewed in Canada on May 27, 2019

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I was recommended this book by a good friend and I will forever be grateful to her for that because I couldn’t have loved this book more. In fact, I’m ready to dive head first into the world of Carroll’s writing! This book is just pure perfection, it has everything you could want as a reader; stunning writing, amazing characters and a truly fascinating storyline. And it’s the most beautiful mix of fantasy, horror and magical realism I’ve ever had the luck to read! Trust me, you need to read this book!

Helen

Good one

Reviewed in Spain on November 29, 2018

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Recommend!

Eileen Shaw

"Want me to hold your hat for you kiddo?"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2014

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I'm not enamoured of fantasy but this began with a realistic edge as the story of Thomas, an English teacher who is enraptured by the work of a Saint Expury sound-alike, Marshall France, whose fantasy works have haunted his childhood. He travels with a kookie friend called Saxony, to Galen, the small town in where Marshall France was born. He wants to write a biography of France's life, and although he has been warned that France's daughter Anna is hostile to such biographer wannabes, he is surprised to find himself welcomed and slowly drawn into the life of the town. Anna, France's attractive daughter, encourages him, and he gradually learns that - well, I'd better not say what happens after that. The result of his experiences begin to tie him inexorably to the work he is producing. Bull terriers feature a lot and so does sexual activitiy, first with Saxony, and then with Anna, though there is little in the way of erotic description.

The plot is a wonder, though I feel you have to like the fantasy genre to get the full impact out of this seductive and adventurous book. As the novel progresses it becomes subtley more attractive as a read. Though it does test one's ability to suspend disbelief. It's a book that you might start out dismissing and then slowly succumb as the events suck you into the story. I ended by enjoying it enormously. Only 241 pages, and well worth your time.

3 people found this helpful

A. Webb

A modern day classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2015

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Where it all began for Jonathan Carroll. Many years after first reading it, I bought this for a friend, who was similarly mind boggled by what the author achieves. Carroll is a writers writer, meaning he is unlikely to ever write a blockbuster all action epic, but does produce considered, often superbly written works, with brilliant characterization and a deceptive amount of depth. Yet, the work remains very accessible, and should not be thought of a some highbrow exercise in literary clever dickery.The end scene, especially, will stay with you for a while.

4 people found this helpful

Dodwell

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2015

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I was really looking forward to reading this, having heard lots of positive things about it, but, what a disappointment. The tale took an age to get going and developed into a fairly interesting, if derivative, plot. The book took an age to arrive, well past the date stated, and, in my opinion, was not worth the wait. I think I'll give his other works a wide berth.

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The Land of Laughs: A Novel Kindle Edition

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