These Demented Lands Book

An amazing apocalyptic novel. A sequel of sorts to Morvern Callar, although the point of view isn't, nor the action, limited to Morvern. The narrative alternates between two first-person narrators, one of whom is Morvern. Heavily symbolic and full of outrageous characterizations and scenes, with lyrical prose, and postmodern interpositions of road (and other) signs and flyers and posters. Heavily weighted with millennial christian overtones it would be interesting to compare and contrast this novel with Emer Martin's Breakfast in Babylon. Also interesting is the intertext between this novel and Morvern Callar. Early on Morvern discusses and labels her emotions, and provides commentary on what she felt (or didn't feel) in the earlier novel. So we have a private language of emotions: "The Indifferent Feeling," "The Correspondence Feeling," "The Toffee Feeling," "The Cheese Sandwhich in the Back of the Car Feeling," "The October Afternoon Feeling," "Peeling the Tangie Feeling," and "The Rudder Feeling," all the feelings that as she says "make me me." But the only ones she describes are "The Indifferent Feeling," and "The Correspondence Feeling." We are left to wonder about the others, except for "The Rudder Feeling," which is the controlling one for this novel. Warner's mastery of language is more impressive in this novel because it is multi-voiced.