Continuing (belatedly) my trilogy of reviews of Clive Barker's non-trilogy of early, thematically-similar novels, (
The Damnation Game,
Weaveworld, and
Imajica) here's my take on Weaveworld. I first read this book around 1990, when it was newish and I had recently discovered Clive Barker's work. He almost immediately became my favorite author, (supplanting Stephen King, whose work had instantly turned me into a horror fan and gradually drawn me into my so-far-misbegotten career path) and while I enjoyed the novel back then, it was far from my favorite of Barker's books.
I appreciated the scope and imagination, but the main character is rather wishy-washy in his everyman-ness, there aren't many out and out "horror" scenes, the plot is rather wandering, and the philosophical/metaphysical/mythological Christian elements of the story left me cold. I'd read it once or twice during the years since then, but when I tackled it last month I tried to approach it as a neutral observer. How did it strike me now, nearly 20 years after my first exposure to the novel? To the scores:
Weaveworld, by Clive Barker, 1989
Plot: 6
Concept: 9
Writing Quality/Flow: 9/8
Characters: 7
Fun Factor: 6
Page Turner: 7
Re-readability: 8
Overall: 8
This was Barker's second novel, and it's better than
The Damnation Game, his first. It's far larger and more imaginative, and it greatly builds on the elements Barker established in
The Damnation Game, while deviating considerably from typical horror (and fiction) novel form. The novel is far longer (in pages and time frame) and larger (in concept and content) than the usual fiction tale, and it's not a thriller. Nor does it aspire to be one. There are moments of action and excitement and tension, but it's not a ticking clock type story. My page turner score is based largely on the inventiveness and creativity sucking the reader in, rather than the novel exhibiting a steadily building tension.
It's also what I suspected when I began this rereading of early Barker novels. It's very nearly a dry run for
Imajica, a masterpiece of a novel that's essentially
Weaveworld reimagined, enlarged, deepened, and improved in almost every way.
As is the case in all 3 of these early Barker novels, the plot starts small and mundane, then gradually swells into a vast, world and age-spanning conflagration that sweeps the protagonists into key positions in a struggle that's been running since long before were born. The title refers to a vast and ancient tapestry, within which a people and a jigsaw collection of their favorite parts of the world are contained. It's a magical world, housing magical refugees from our mundane realm. The story tells that there were once magical tribes of semi-humans living on the earth, but as humans spread the tribes were accused of witchcraft and heresy, and forced to retreat. They could have survived that, until they began to suffer massacres at the hands of an unseen, unknown monster they called the Scourge. Harassed by humans and driven nearly extinct by the Scourge, the remnants of the tribes gathered and worked a great magic, weaving themselves and their most precious keepsakes (which include physical objects and bits of geographic locations) into a carpet. There they remained for centuries, guarded by a series of half-human protectors and hunted by exiles of their own kind, and perhaps still by the Scourge, now sleeping and hidden in some distant, unknown corner of the world.
The plot of
Weaveworld involves the pursuit of the tapestry by several individuals of great power, the awakening of the Scourge, the unweaving and reweaving of the land, and an epic and lengthy struggle during which most of the characters change their minds, hearts, and almost their identities, several times.
Most of the elements that became Barker's trademarks are present in this novel, some of them developed at length for the first time. The (apparently) evil characters with god-like powers who become humanized and partially-redeemed over the course of the book The young female who discovers magical powers she never knew she possessed. The magical world existing just beneath the visible surface of our mundane one. The long, multi-act plot structure, with plenty of time for revelations, false dawns, and ultimate world-changing revelations/resolutions. The dynamic characters, almost all of whom change and grown considerably during the course of the book. The lack of embarrassment about frankly sexual sensuality, and the unflinchingly gory and gruesome, but seldom sensationalized, violence. And the almost incomparably-brilliant prose which turns many passages into literary wine tasting; where words, descriptions, and phrases must be sipped slowly to let them impart the full flavor and depth of the presentation.
In
Weaveworld, as in most of Barker's work, I frequently found myself pausing to marvel at how well a description was turned, or a scene was presented. Barker isn't a great storyteller, (his multitudes of ideas prevent him from presenting a streamlined, focused plot) but his writing, the actual arrangement of the words, is as good as I've ever read. This is kind of a writer-y thing though, and is not appreciated by everyone, but if you enjoy the masterful play of the English language, you'll find a lot to like in Barker's best work.
CharacterizationAnother writerly technique Barker uses is to make almost every major (and some minor) characters very dynamic. That tendency runs further amok in
Imajica, and forms the core of my very few criticisms of that novel. It's not as pronounced (developed?) in Weaveworld, but at times characters seem to change just for the sake of change, and the fact that almost every character escapes certain death on multiple occasions, then returns invigorated and/or greatly-altered by the experience, can be distracting. I think it makes Barker's novels very non-comfort food, and probably has something to do with why he's been less successful than many far less talented horror novelists.
Personally, I love the style he uses, and found it hugely influential when I was 18. I still enjoy it, but I can now see the limitations (re: book quality and marketing) a little more clearly. Reading the book now, I still like the idea, but it seems overdone at times, and I think it's a big part of what makes some people not Barker fans. When every character changes, and the overall plot is fluid and ebbs and flows in different directions, readers who want a strong central theme and a traditional plot structure feel lost at sea. Like the book doesn't know where it's going, and neither do the characters.
It's interesting to compare Barker's style of dynamic characters to another author who does it very well. In George RR Martin's ongoing
Fire and Ice series, the characters appear to be dynamic, but in retrospect I don't think they are. Some are, of course, but what usually changes in that series isn't the characters, but the POV of the reader. The Lannisters; Tyrion and Jamie and Cersei, are basically the same characters in book 4 that they were in books 1, when they appeared to be outright evil and almost every reader hated them. What's changed isn't the behavior of the Lannisters, but the view the reader has of them, since Martin wrote numerous chapters from their POV in books 2-4, and as we got to know them, we started to see things through their eyes. As a result Cersei is now more hated, Jamie is an interesting, complicated, and conflicted character, and Tyrion is one of the most popular characters in the series... even though he's just as cruel and sarcastic and hated by the other characters as he was in book 1.
This is not (usually) how Barker does his characters. He sometimes uses this technique, where characters who appear to be the bad guys from a distance become more sympathetic once we get to know more about them and see their POV on things, but more often he really does have his characters change during the course of the novel.
Barker's a big fan of characters discovering unknown powers within themselves, and he's not afraid to throw them entirely into the maelstrom when they do. Barker doesn't stick to the conventional comic book style of characterization, where Peter Parker becomes Spider Man, but is still basically the same nerd before and after gaining new abilities and just wants to keep living his same life, rather than embracing his new abilities and totally changing his stupid, boring life. Barker's characters find new powers, and are dramatically changed by them. Or someone nearly dies and consciously decides to change their life afterwards. Or they get a glimpse of some magical reality they'd never before imagined, and become obsessed with obtaining it, throwing away their former existence.
I'm not debating how realistic Barker's characterizations are, and I don't think that "realism" is a very useful word to use to evaluate them, since the settings and events of his books are usually so fantastic. But his style is inventive and bold, and I admire it, even though I think he sometimes overdoes it.
The other arguable weakness of
Weaveworld is the meandering plot. Barker was an accomplished playwright and prolific writer at the time he turned out
Weaveworld, so he didn't just stumble into the plot structure. He made a conscious choice to use it, and it's not bad, but it's very atypical and perhaps overlong. My hardcover copy of
Weaveworld is 584 pages long, and the first time through the book, it looks like it's absolutely got to end around page 350. Everything is coming to a head, the enemies are assembled, the good guys are battling them, the weave is about to be undone, and chaos is going to break out. And it does, but then nothing is really resolved, the bad guys are sort of defeated but the good guys are not triumphant, and then everyone scatters in different directions. Then comes a sort of intermission/interlude of about 6 months time (in the book) during which almost nothing happens. We get some brief mentions of characters moving around, forgetting their original purpose, not interacting, before the action starts to wind up again, and a second, final conclusion is reached, then followed by 30 pages of a long, largely unnecessary epilogue, before the third ending is tacked on.
This would be an interesting book to study in a literature class, just to analyze the structure and flow and arrangement of events. It feels like a 350 page novel with a 150 page novella tacked on, a long short story thrown in as connective tissue, with an epilogue added for padding. I don't think it entirely works, but I can see Barker's intent.
In theory the first novel is a thriller rushing towards an awesome climax, and then the reader is given 50 pages to catch their breath before events begin to build up again, towards the more shocking and final finale. In practice, it feels discordant and somewhat disconnected, like two mismatched halves written by different authors, or by the same author years apart.
Like so much else in
Weaveworld, this stylistic attempt is elaborated on, more successfully, in
Imajica, and I'll be discussing that, and much more, when I post that review later this week.
Labels: book review, clive barker
