Jonathan Carroll is on the top tier of my favorite author’s list. He occupies a space with Charles de Lint as the authors I have read the most throughout my adult reading life. I have reviewed seven Carroll novels since I started this blog in January 2011 and the novel that put him on the aforementioned list is The Wooden Sea.

My original review summarized the core of the story: New York police chief Frannie McCabe’s life takes a dramatic turn when a three-legged dog dies in front of him, affecting everyone around him. Carroll’s work employs surrealism and magical realism to investigate the factors influencing life choices and the paths individuals ultimately take.

When I first read this novel in December 2015, the love story between Chief McCabe and his second wife, Magda, captivated me the most in the novel. I cited 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, in which the apostle Paul explains what love truly means. Although The Wooden Sea isn’t a Christian novel, McCabe and Magda’s relationship reminded me of some familiar Bible verses.

However, this reread did not have that same feeling for me. Although their story is important to the novel, Chief McCabe’s post-dog encounter felt more coincidental than genuinely connected. There were aspects of the story that had a cartoonish feel to it. This is not to write that I hated The Wooden Sea upon my rereading. Carroll is a very talented and unique novelist, unlike anyone I’ve read in modern fiction. Rereading The Wooden Sea made me realize that I’m in a different place as a reader.

The Wooden Sea is a good novel, not a great one. Ten years on, certain elements of the story, particularly Chief McCabe and Magda’s marriage, held up well, but others did not age as gracefully. Though it’s no longer a top favorite like it once was, Carroll remains one of my favorite authors, and his unique blend of fantasy, surrealism, and magical realism is still relevant in modern fiction.