These Demented Lands
by Alan Warner

List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $3.14
You Save: $9.81 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of These Demented Lands

Book Review: Dark and Surreal
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

Women's Fiction Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction