Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.

- Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard

In the opening scene of Edward AlbeeÌs Pulitzer-winning drama, ÏThree Tall Women,Ó the audience is confronted with three women - one young, one middle-aged and one elderly - keeping a vigil by the bed of a dying patient.

Eventually, it becomes evident that the four characters are actually one entity - the three women are all aspects of the dying patient at different stages of life. As they talk - alternately sharing memories and bickering - time is running out. Of the three, the youngest is most prone to anger and judgment while the eldest is both cynical and tolerant. The middle-aged entity is bawdy and enjoys teasing the youngest who is repulsed by the fact that the other two women represent the person(s) she will eventually become.

Jonathan Carroll's latest novel, The Wooden Sea, poses an interesting variation on the Albee play. The bookÌs protagonist, Police Chief Frannie McCabe, finds himself alternately dealing with his teenage entity - brash, loud-mouthed and violent - and a cantankerous and enfeebled octogenarian which is Frannie on the eve of his death ... by motorcycle. Frannie does not approve of what he once was and is horrified by what he will eventually become. However, unlike the Albee play, FrannieÌs world can be altered, but usually with disastrous results.

Like all Carroll novels, The Wooden Sea overflows with marvelous imaginative inventions. In fact, the book contains so many clever, whimsical - and occasionally sinister - creations, the author has considerable trouble keeping track of them. At times, the book seems over-populated and Carroll begins to resemble a frustrated child with a box of kittens, puppies and wind-up toys that keep crawling out of the box. Some escape and never return, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to them. Beginning with a wonderful three-legged, one-eyed dog named Old Vertue (who dies in the opening scene) and a mysterious rainbow-colored feather that keeps appearing in strange places, Carroll pulls out all the stops, including futuristic headgear that recreates the past, an over-the-counter pill that cures AlzheimerÌs and a troop of good-natured aliens that are among us even now, trying to gently prod us in the right direction on the road to divine destiny. Well, it seems that mankind is the cog in the World/Universe Machine ... a machine that canÌt be cranked up until we belatedly complete our assigned task.

Then, there is God. He isn't around at present, but has been ÏhibernatingÓ for billions of years. When the machine is finally assembled, God will Ïwake up, and we will get on with our destiny. In some inexplicable way, Frannie is a part of the wake-up call.

Poor Frannie finds himself whisked back and forth between two conflicting worlds: futuristic technology in 2020 and nostalgic middle-America of 1947, searching for the mysterious event, person or bit of information which will provide Ïthe final answer. Both worlds are tainted and Frannie develops a heavy freight of guilt and responsibility which is produced by his constantly learning about impending catastrophes that he can do nothing about. Learning that his wife will die of a brain tumor, Frannie schemes to interfere with her fate. (He succeeds, but at a terrible price.) At times the past, present and future warp and meld into a bewildering mix of anachronisms - Edsels and Isuzus, the Beatles and rap. Main street 2000 imposed on Main street 1947.

Frannie even meets his father (long dead) in a diner and develops a friendship with his 18-year-old self. He takes his young (punk) self home, introduces him to his wife as a relative and is alarmed when the punk develops a romantic interest in his stepdaughter. Roles become interchangeable. Occasionally, time Ïfreezes,Ó allowing Frannie to amble about in a static world filled with stalled cars, open mouths and birds arrested in flight. Frannie begins to sense that "Someone" is manipulating the world and they are ... inept.

I have been a Carroll fan for 30 years. During the past two years, I have reviewed three Carroll novels in this column. However, I must confess that The Wooden Sea falls short of what I have come to expect from an author that Stephen King calls a master Ïfantasist.Ó In the process of finishing this book, I felt like I had assembled some intricate contraption only to discover that I was left with a dozen exotic pieces. The Wooden Sea begins wonderfully and page on page is filled with engaging characters and magical, provocative situations. However, the plot revs its motor and begins to flounder, its forward motion impeded by an excess of whimsy, irrelevant characters and unanswered questions. Also, the Carroll trademark is missing

Carroll is a master of a unique kind of sinister and menacing characters. Such novels as The Land of Laughs (his best, in my opinion), Sleeping in Flame, The Teeth of Angels and The Marriage of Sticks are among the best terror/fantasy works of this century. It is distressing to read a work that contains some of the best of CarrollÌs writing yet lacks a satisfying conclusion. After producing a pastiche of lovable animals, masterful dialogue, and original ideas, Carroll seems to become impatient with the business of resolution. Fully realized characters wander off the page, their fate unknown. Brain-teasing questions go unanswered or receive answers that are facile and unsatisfying. When the book concludes, it resembles one of those comic suitcases that has been forced to contain too many items Û loose ends protrude, creating an embarrassing border of jockey shorts and bra straps.

I should note that a bad Carroll novel is still far better than most of the fare currently occupying the shelves of your bookstore. Rather than encourage you to read The Wooden Sea, let me suggest that you read any of his other 12 novels - especially the first one, Land of Laughs. There is much talk at the present time of a developing Carroll cult. Well, I am pleased, but it is a bit belated. I encourage you to go back and read Bones of the Moon or The Voice of Our Shadow.

(Gary Carden is a storyteller and writer who lives in Sylva. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com)