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Paul Nelson's Reviews > The Great and Secret Show
The Great and Secret Show (Book of the Art #1)
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How can I best describe The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, well if you imagine the start being at one end of a swimming pool, and the swimming pool is filled with jelly (or jello to some) made from a cocktail of your favourite alcoholic spirits and liqueurs.
And to reach the end you've got to wade through this Olympic sized jelly filled swimming pool, right, so chances are you're going to enjoy a fair portion of it before you get full anyway. There's going to be some enjoyment, mixed in with some fucking hard work, there's going to be intense appreciation of the idea but it's not something you can possibly do in one go, it might take you weeks and you may even decide to eat your way through it, taking even longer. You’ll grow tired, weak even, your arms will ache but you’ll soldier on even though you think it’s just not bloody worth it.
There'll be all kinds of feelings going through your mind, a myriad of emotions, like why the Fuck did I start this massive fucking job now. Jesus fucking wept you will swear several times and hover over diving in again until you desperately need to just get it over with, as if your life depends on it.
So to recap it's going to be hard going, you'll love some of it, you'll get pissed at some of it, you'll feel like taking a break at regular intervals and you might even question your will to finish the job, even your sanity but if you do finish, it will certainly hold some sort of reward and a sense of achievement will prevail.
Anyway apologies for that rubbish but that's how I felt at times, I started this book in November and it’s taken me six weeks to read and I'm fucking glad it's over with. It's unquestionably genius, the writing is imaginative with wonderful prose, it's a great story but it labours horrifically, I loved it while at the same time I hated it and I'll never, ever think to pick it up again, in fact I'm going to cremate this fucker. Now I have a few other Barker tomes awaiting Imajica, Coldheart Canyon and Weaveworld, will I read them anytime soon? Only when I want to wade through jelly again. Nuff said.
A 3.5* rating
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
And to reach the end you've got to wade through this Olympic sized jelly filled swimming pool, right, so chances are you're going to enjoy a fair portion of it before you get full anyway. There's going to be some enjoyment, mixed in with some fucking hard work, there's going to be intense appreciation of the idea but it's not something you can possibly do in one go, it might take you weeks and you may even decide to eat your way through it, taking even longer. You’ll grow tired, weak even, your arms will ache but you’ll soldier on even though you think it’s just not bloody worth it.
There'll be all kinds of feelings going through your mind, a myriad of emotions, like why the Fuck did I start this massive fucking job now. Jesus fucking wept you will swear several times and hover over diving in again until you desperately need to just get it over with, as if your life depends on it.
So to recap it's going to be hard going, you'll love some of it, you'll get pissed at some of it, you'll feel like taking a break at regular intervals and you might even question your will to finish the job, even your sanity but if you do finish, it will certainly hold some sort of reward and a sense of achievement will prevail.
Anyway apologies for that rubbish but that's how I felt at times, I started this book in November and it’s taken me six weeks to read and I'm fucking glad it's over with. It's unquestionably genius, the writing is imaginative with wonderful prose, it's a great story but it labours horrifically, I loved it while at the same time I hated it and I'll never, ever think to pick it up again, in fact I'm going to cremate this fucker. Now I have a few other Barker tomes awaiting Imajica, Coldheart Canyon and Weaveworld, will I read them anytime soon? Only when I want to wade through jelly again. Nuff said.
A 3.5* rating
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
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Reading Progress
November 19, 2015
–
Started Reading
November 19, 2015
– Shelved
January 3, 2016
– Shelved as:
2016-books-read
January 3, 2016
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)
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Jeff
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rated it 5 stars
Jan 03, 2016 02:00PM
Oh man. I've read that one four times and the follow-up three times. I must be a glutton for punishment lol. In all seriousness though, two of my all-time favourites.
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Man you have staying power in abundance :)
This one has been on my radar for a long time.
Charlie wrote: "This one has been on my radar for a long time."Hope you like it :)
Coldheart Canyon is a much easier read - probably his cleanest and most linear tale. Imajica is dense and deeply layered, but probably my favorite book of all time. Weaveworld falls somewhere in between and might be a good compromise. :)
Yeah I was thinking Weaveworld, Imajica is toooo big :)
I listened to the Audio version of this. I honestly don't know if I could have read all the way through. Even the thought of trying makes me nervous.
It really was just like that. A struggle, but a deeply rewarding struggle. I took a week long break with 100 pages to go before I finally sat down saw it through. Think I’ll wait awhile before I tackle Imajica.
Imajica was my all-time favorite. I read it twice. Once when I was twenty-seven and once again when I was fifty-three. The way I viewed it from those two ages is unbelievable. But I found it worth a second read. I'm reading The Great and Secret Show now. Yeah I get the whole jelly pool metaphor.
