Carrion Comfort

As I said in my review of The Passage by Justin Cronin, had I known the book was about vampires, I would have taken a pass. And, as I said in that review, it would have been my loss. This really is not a book about vampires, per se, as we have come to think about them, but a variation on the theme and it was excellent. I selected this book because another reviewer had written that he thought Carrion Comfort was the best that Dan Simmons had penned. I would certainly rate it close up there with his Magnum Opus Hyperion and Endymion. It was that good and that is saying something.

The book is one of Simmons early works apparently derives its title and many of its themes from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I am also not a fan of WWII books about Nazis. This also was not what the book was about per se though it does give us the background on the main villains of the story and villains they are like perhaps we have never come upon before. That theme also is somewhat of the thread that permeates and ties things neatly through the book as it continues to America in 1981.

Saul Laski is one of a few of the heros in the tale of whom some survive and others do not. Saul is both predator and prey. Though old in 1981, he somehow manages to rise to the occasion and present a challenge to some of the most nightmarish scenes I have ever read. And, no, I am not particularly a fan of horror books either but I am a fan of Dan Simmons and will probably read anything he comes out with.

Some of the accolades and awards the book has received include Bram Stoker Award winner 1989; British Fantasy Award winner, World Fantasy Award nominee, 1990. Some have commented on the length of the book. I would not have shortened it one page. I often find unnecessary passages in books but this is not one of them. The book was thoroughly entertaining after about the first couple of chapters which, on hindsight, were just as integral as the others.

The narrators of this epic were extraordinary. This is a book made for listening to by gifted storytellers. Mel Foster acts Saul, Willi and the other men and some of the women. While I find men acting women’s roles can sometimes be impossible to pull of, Mel foster is impeccable in his narration. Laural Merlington plays the role of Melanie, the most arch of villains. She is vicious, scarier than $#it and made even more so by the incredible acting voice of Ms. Merlington. I could not rate either narrator more highly.

Bottom line if you can’t handle scary, skip this one. If you love great writing and like it complex and epic in scale, don’t miss it.

Yes, this book is 39 hours, but I loved it from beginning to end. The two narrators become truly invisible, allowing you to just concentrate on the story. The story has enough twists and turns and surprises to keep you guessing, but not so many that you get lost in the 39 hours. You'll love some characters and hate others and change your mind on others. I usually can come up with something I don't like about a book, but for this one, it is near perfection.

This is one of the all time classic horror novels. Well read, thought it would be long but I wanted more. Fascinating concept.

A masterful thriller, packed with suspense and intrique which kept my unflagging interest through all 5 Parts. It had me thinking and questioning the limits or boundaries of what human beings are capable of doing to one another, within a given set of circumstances. Are there any? A frightening thought.

Narration was excellent and unobtrusive, by both readers, the voices well-matched with the characters. The only criticism i would have, is Mr Foster's inability to read the German phrases. Simple rudimentary elements such as the phonetic structure of the alphabet are misread. The German glyph for double 's' is read as an 's' not a 'b'. "Dass...dass" should not be rendered as "dub, dub". The least bit of research would have elminated such ridiculous pronunciation.

I tend to evaluate a book by 2 sets of criteria: My own subjective enjoyment, and then also by literary standards.

From a literary standpoint, this is a good book, but not a great book. The characters are uni-dimensional. The good guys are angels, the baddies are rotten to their grotesque evil cores. No nuances; black and white like the chess board of the "game".

All round, i thoroughly enjoyed it and can recommend it as a captivating read.

I see other reviewers a bit put off by the length of this story. I had the thought "wow, a compelling story that the author took his time with!" What a bonus! I didn't find a single part boring. I liked how he took his time with a complicated tale. I liked the story development in between bouts of action. In typing this, I would compare it to the Steigg Larsen series...I like some story and character development with my "action sequences." I have not read Simmons' other books (for which he is apparently more famous) but this one piqued my interest in perusing more! The narrators were both excellent, too!

This book was way too long for the story it told but still worth the listen. The tale was unique and well thought out but it should have been cut down by a third. They must pay by the pound.

The author's use of imagery and also the narrators really got into telling the story.

The narrators

They bring the characters to life. Hearing them read this novel sets you in the midst of the story.

Melanie Fuller. She's elegant and classy yet evil and corrupt to the core.

Great novel to "take you away" for a while.

The book itself is not as strong as some of Simmons' other work I've read or listened-to. The story is a bit loose and rambling, but not in the grand tapestry way of, say, "Hyperion." Just loose and rambling.

The real source of my engagement with the audio book came from the performance(s). Mel Foster carries the bulk of the weight here, and if his vivid characterizations of the large cast are at times somewhat broadly melodramatic, the excesses are wholly in keeping with the book's unapologetic indulgences in stock characters and stereotypes. Listen to Foster's work in any of the book's crowded scenes of action or conference table exposition, though, and it's clear that he has a firm mastery of the material he has to work with.

the only gripe I have is that the old lady gets her own narrator , who is fabulous and everyone else shares the same narrator who is middling but still a good story and interesting , it feels a bit like simmons wrote a bunch of shorter novels or stories and then mxed the characters together into the larger volume ,and at least its not narrated by john lee.

It's not terrible. It's not great. Mostly, it wasn't engaging. I didn't care about the characters-- they lacked depth and believability. The concept had potential, but the scary aspects weren't promoted. More thriller than horror, but even in that, not very effective at suspense. Mostly, it was overwritten and could be twice as good at half its length. Prose was borderline amateur. Quit listening two chapters from the end because the path was obvious and I didn't care if any of the characters lived or died anyway. Disappointed-- I expected more from Simmons. Read like Koontz.... but reeallllyyy long.

Narration was good.