Jonathan Carroll – The Wooden Sea - Review

To characterize Jonathan Carroll as merely a 'surrealist' novelist would be a misnomer, though his work does fall in the vicinity of this category. While reading The Wooden Sea, however, many subjects came to mind: quantum theory, depth psychology, and particularly Zen Buddhism.

What we witness through the eyes of the protagonist, Frannie McCabe, is a sequence of unrelated events, strange and explainable. The journey's purpose, we later discover, is recognizing the meaning in these events that for a great deal of the stories find the lead character, jumping back and forth in time, meeting past and future selves.

Frannie McCabe is a Vietnam veteran living in Crane's View, New York, working as the town's Chief of Police. One day he comes across a three-legged dog, which he dubs Old Vertue, who suddenly dies before his eyes. Feeling bad for the old mutt, he finds a shovel and buries him in the woods outside of town. The next thing he knows, Old Vertue reappears alive and as good as new, except he's still a three-legged dog. This bizarre miracle sets off a quantum chain of events, where through various time periods, McCabe journeys, and for the most part, is accompanied by his teenage self, that he comes to call Gee Gee.

What we come to discover, through chance meetings with unusual beings, is that Frannie McCabe has only seven days to figure out what the heck is going on, putting the pieces together, to prevent some unknown universal catastrophe.

Carroll is clever in his use of the Zen Buddhist concept, known as a Koan. A Koan is a riddle or meaningless statement that Buddhism's student must meditate upon to reach a state of enlightenment or Satori. A common example is a question: “What is the sound of one hand, clapping?” or “When a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound?” The Koan point is to break down one's logical mind, its embedded circuitry, thereby triggering enlightenment or a level of spiritual awareness.

The Wooden Sea could also be described as a one-long Koan. Nothing makes any logical sense, and the question is asked to McCabe: “How does one row upon a wooden sea?” A few characters, including McCabe's younger self, come up with some creative answers, but that's not the point. There are no answers, for it is a method to directly understand the meaning of life, ignoring what is considered miss-leading logical thoughts and language.

From my little understanding, depth psychology addresses the notions of a “divided self.” Through a process of self-analysis, including therapy and dream interpretation, one reaches a stage of “individuation,” where our divided “selves” merge, creating a conscious wholeness.

The Wooden Sea is a quantum journey through non-linear time, meeting future and pasts selves; selves that require merging for a true understanding of our lives and ourselves.

Carroll merges these concepts in an entertaining story, at times hilarious, and sometimes extremely moving.

This is an excellent novel - quirky, funny, weird, and informative.