Genre: surrealism. Stars from Goodreads: 4.09. Stars from me: 3.5.
I’ve read The Hearing Trumpet, which was presented earlier on the blog by my cat.
The book is described as an “occult twin of Alice in Wonderland” but I don’t think it’s accurate. If it can be compared to any book at all then it’s probably a very drunk version of Narnia.
The author, Leonora Carrington, was an eccentric person. She would cover her feet with mustard while sitting in a restaurant and would serve her guests breakfast made of their own hair that she had cut off while they were sleeping. Thus, I’m not sure if Leonora needed the help of any substances to create this book or it came to her naturally.
The book feels like a lucid dream controlled by a fantasy loving person. The story starts with an old lady and cats but quickly progresses to a fairytale touched up by an apocalyptic approach. I’m not even sure if Leonora Carrington wanted to write the book or the book just happened accidentally while Leonora was having fun imagining her dream world.
The Hearing Trumpet has a hilarious main character and is very quotable. Here are some of the quotes:
- “The fact that I have no teeth and never could wear dentures does not in any way discomfort me. I don’t have to bite anybody and there are all sorts of soft edible foods easy to procure and digestible to the stomach. […] I never eat meat as I think it is wrong to deprive animals of their life when they are so difficult to chew anyway.”
- “If I remember correctly writers usually find some excuse for their books, although why one should excuse oneself for having such a quiet and peaceful occupation I really don’t know. Military people never seem to apologize for killing each other yet novelists feel ashamed for writing some nice inert paper book that is not certain to be read by anybody.”
- “It is impossible to understand how millions and millions of people all obey a sickly collection of gentlemen that call themselves ‘Government’. […] It is a form of planetary hypnosis, and very unhealthy’”
- “I’m sure it would be very pleasant and healthy for human beings to have no authority whatever. They would have to think for themselves, instead of always being told what to do.”
I still can’t suggest this book to anybody because I’m not sure it’s possible to enjoy the book without hitting a moment of occult overdose at some point. 
Yeah, definitely not my genre of novel, sorry. I do love your review (and those pics again, they’re beautiful) and even though it was a weird read going in another direction you still gave it a 3.5 rating. I haven’t checked your review policy but for me that’s still a good read. She does seem to be strongly opinionated about everything.
I love that you used the term “review policy”. It gave a form to something I didn’t really focus on. Yes, I do have a review policy but I haven’t talked about it yet. Basically, I often give a book at least 3 stars if it’s high quality when it comes to either language (writing style), character’s creation or a plot. Even if I don’t like the book in general but some of those components are well developed then it’s three stars already.