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The hearing trumpet
224 pages
A delightfully unhinged, surrealist romp where a marginalized nonagenarian embraces occult anarchy to overthrow the establishment.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a delightfully unhinged surrealist painting where the rules of reality have been cheerfully discarded. The narrative moves with a brisk, dreamlike logic, anchored by a protagonist whose deadpan, wry observations make the most bizarre occult occurrences seem perfectly ordinary. It is an anarchic and hallucinatory experience, blending cozy eccentricity with subversive feminist rebellion. The prose is lucid and matter-of-fact, treating apocalyptic cults, talking animals, and institutional uprisings with the same polite curiosity as a cup of tea. It is a joyous, weirdly triumphant journey from societal invisibility to cosmic liberation. This is the perfect read for anyone who delights in feminist fabulism, eccentric anti-heroines, and the joyful dismantling of patriarchal authority.
- Mood
- surreal
- hallucinatory
- anarchic
- whimsical
- Tone
- wry
- eccentric
- irreverent
- deadpan
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- aging and invisibility · female rebellion · occult mysticism · absurdity of authority
- The writing
- Lucid and matter-of-fact, treating the utterly bizarre with cheerful, deadpan pragmatism.
- The arc
- Moves from quiet marginalization to a joyous, apocalyptic liberation.
- Who it's for
- Lovers of surrealism and feminist fabulism who delight in eccentric, elderly protagonists refusing to behave.
Content notes
- ageism
- institutionalization
- murder
About the book
Leonora Carrington, the distinguished British-born Surrealist painter is also a writer of extraordinary imagination and charm. Exact Change launched a program of reprinting her fiction with what is perhaps her best loved book.
The Hearing Trumpet is the story of 92-year-old Marian Leatherby, who is given the gift of a hearing trumpet only to discover that what her family is saying is that she is to be committed to an institution. But this is an institution where the buildings are shaped like birthday cakes and igloos, where the Winking Abbess and the Queen Bee reign, and where the gateway to the underworld is open. It is also the scene of a mysterious murder.
Occult twin to Alice in Wonderland, The Hearing Trumpet is a classic of fantastic literature that has been translated and celebrated throughout the world.
Description from Open Library.
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