How have I never heard of Clive Barker before?!?! I just recently finished his highly compelling, gripping and surreal novel, Weaveworld, and I have to say I was quite intrigued. It was one of those reading experiences where I couldn’t put the book down, and during my lunch hour off work, I’d “unsociably” (is that a word?) rush to my van so I could eat in there and soak up the novel without anyone talking to me. Okay, so maybe I do that anyway, but still…
Weaveworld is about the Fugue, a world within the human world. It is inhabited by Seerkind, who are special beings with magical abilities. As the years roll by, the Seerkind are harassed and destroyed by humans who don’t understand them (a.k.a. Cuckoos) and a creepy character named The Scourge. Because of this, they decide to create a hiding place to stay until things are safer. Putting their magic to use, they weave together a carpet that enables them to hide within its seams. They can take their favorite belongings and even parts of the world they love into it. Once inside the Fugue, they have Mimi Laschenski, a Cuckoo who is in love with one of the Seerkind, become the guardian of the carpet. But as time moves along and Mimi ages, she is no longer able to protect the carpet and its mysteries and must give that duty to her granddaughter, Suzanna Parish. Suzanna reluctantly takes on this task and soon finds herself being a warrior for the Fugue, a great one at that.
But as with any great book, all can’t go right. We see a host of characters who want the carpet for their own personal reasons. Take Immacolata, for instance. She’s a sorceress who was kicked out of the Fugue for practicing evil magic. Her hatred and bitterness grows so great against the Fugue for this, that she decides to destroy it and all within it.
Then there are her two sisters (they’re triplets with her) who follow her every bidding, and quite frankly are my least favorite characters because of the very gruesome and thematic things they do to their prey. Oh and did I mention their already dead? Immacolata killed them in the womb. How’s that for the bizarre?
And then we have Shadwell who is a sinister, greedy salesman. The kind of man any car company would be happy to have, considering his expertise at manipulating people to buy whatever he’s selling.
There’s also Calhoun Mooney, who senses a world out there that isn’t so mundane and human. He has a yearning for something more, and when he sees his intuition is right, he can’t ever stop chasing and guarding the Fugue with all his life.
And then there’s the Scourge…but I’m not going to give it away. You’ll just have to read what the heck it is yourself, and then be creeped out of your mind by the weirdness of it all.
Those are just a few of the characters. The book is very long with three parts, and honestly, if what I’ve written already hasn’t stirred you enough, you won’t read it anyway, so there’s no use for me to continue prattling on about it.
But I will say, you won’t be sorry. Yes, that’s a cliche statement all of us bloggers love to make about the books we read and love, but I don’t put that out there lightly. When I like a book, it’s generally well-liked by other bookworms of the world.
Weaveworld is intriguing and chock-full of the most interesting, strange and horrifying characters. Not only that, Clive Barker’s writing is so beautiful. I literally re-read parts I loved just to soak in the eloquent prose. There is some offensive language and some very strange sexual content that I usually steer very clear from, but with this put-downable story, I just couldn’t detract myself from it. So I decided to skim those parts to get to the meat of the book. And boy, was it juicy and well done, just the way I like it 😉
Cozy Corner 