![]() ![]() The love-at-first-sight romance between Howie and Jo-Beth is a lot harder for me to accept this time around. Unfortunately, there's one aspect of The Great and Secret Show that doesn't work for me as an adult: It impresses me as much now as it did when I was younger. His imagination works on a grander scale than the rest of us. His vision is so sweeping, so huge, so detailed and encompassing, he needs multiple crises and narrative climaxes in order to hold it all and do it justice. ![]() Then he ramps up to another conflict and climax, and another, and another-building tension and emotional investment to a fever pitch. Barker, however, it's just the beginning. ![]() The conflict that opens the story would be the climax of an entire novel in the hands of a lesser writer. Barker's novels unique-is a narrative structure built on an escalating series of crises and climaxes. What makes this novel unique-what makes many of Mr. This novel is still staggeringly imaginative, exciting, and moving. It stands the tests of time and experience. I'm happy to report the writing holds up really well. I wasn't sure how I'd react to it as an adult. I last read The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker back when I was a teenager. ![]()
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