From 2013, Samuel Sanders' Amazon review of Tally-Ho, Cornelius!
The Multiverse Finds Its Hero
Kids, this is not your average garden variety Jerry Cornelius story. In fact, I would go as far as to postulate that Carter Kaplan has penned the definitive Jerry Cornelius Origin Story.
The entire story revolves around the vainglorious Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Cornelius and his, at first glance, perfect life. All the supporting actors are here: Catherine, Francis, Oona. A revolutionary minister known for conciliating science and religion, the postmodern divine enjoys a celebrity status. He meets a strange and eloquent little boy claiming to be from Brazil.
Little does the postmodern divine know that Capricorn is in fact an immortal Lost Corsair in a last ditch attempt to save his corsairs from the singularity at the beginning of Time! The Lost Corsairs wait for their captain in their unfamiliar identities and struggle to cope in the laws of physics defying universe.
The majority of the book is like a gentle stream. You follow the postmodern divine on his daily doings. The longest chapter is a step by step tour guide from St John's to the Museum of Natural History, then another detailed guide of the reverend and the boy's wanderings inside the museum. Satirical, philosophical, nonsensical, this novel springs forth some heady subjects, including a scientific definition of Moorcock's Second Ether and what it really is.
Meanwhile,
It all comes to head in a most interesting way. You end up not liking the pompous postmodern divine very much while you can't help but be impressed by him, but at the end of it all, you start feeling very sorry for him because the perfection he finds in himself and hopes to find reflected in others fails him. And you go away from it unsure about how you feel about it all, but want to brush up with another roundabout.
Kaplan pens his first novel with an unique and addictive style which keeps one enthralled despite the majority of it being composed of primarily mundane activities. If you are looking for something not run of the mill, or are just a big Jerry Cornelius fan like myself, this book is for you.
Read on!
Jerry Cornelius comes back to life as a most improbable Anglican theologian in this lively tale of love, God's will and the New World Order. Set against the pulsing background of New York City rebuilding at the dawn of our young and uncertain century, this happy and charming novel bubbles over with the myths and ambitions that feed the hallucinating classes as they chase their aspirations. Jerry Cornelius is our affliction and our respite. Michael Moorcock writes, "Rev. Dr. Jerry Cornelius remains an enigmatic and at the same time wholly transparent figure amongst modern media brands, at once instantly recognizable and invisible."
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