Enchanted Night

This quick read wonderfully describes the goings-on one summer night in a Connecticut suburb. There is great attention to detail here, from the reflection of the red and green of the stoplight in a storefront window, to the steaming coffee in thick white cups as heavy as rocks. An extended metaphor of the moon entices throughout, and Millhauser's prose flows so smooth that I'm sure the amount of work that has gone into these 128 pages rival that of much longer works elsewhere. Different in style from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Martin Dressler," this book is a lesson of beautiful writing.

A beautifully descriptive novella which washed over me effortlessly. A few cliched strands couldn't ruin the emotive tone set by Millhauser. It reads like a short dream you wish could go on forever. Readers tip: Plan your time to read this in one go as it's rhythm is vital to the overall effect.

Summoning the surreal white light of the past winter solstice moon, and having experienced the page turn of the century in Paris, Moscow, London New York - each like fast forwards and flashbacks to the viewing eye as the day rolled toward the Pacific ending - I found I had saved Steven Millhauser's ENCHANTED NIGHT for an eerily timed moment to savour. If ever there were a collection of images to share at such a promising time this little novella is it. Millhauser has deposited tiny thoughts like interrupted dreams that are so special that momentary awakening only pleads for us to return to the dreams. With an uncanny ecomony of words, a plethora of evocative observations, and a page-turning style of staccato images, he provides just enough literary seduction to allow the reader to fold close the book after a scant 100 odd pages, darken the lamp, and luxuriate in our own moonlight the myriad trails toward conclusions that our own dreams complete. And in Milhauser's far better words....O you who wait: this is the night of the opening of the heart. This is an extended poem, a brief novella, a parcel of dreamdust to repeatedly read, at night, alone. Or better - to share with another child of the evening.

Calling on Shakespeare, this is a sort of reworking of Midsummer Night's Dream. With short vignettes that convey much more than what is written, Millhauser vividly recounts the magic of summer night. Filled with mythology and fairy tale happenings, this book is so complete as to be visible. There is not a detail missing. It is concentrated and nostalgic, a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Millhauser has given shape to the dangerous and delicious longings of the American night, lit them with the transformative light of a full moon, and cast their elusive shadows across the glittering pavement, down the back-alleys, and over the well-tended lawns of an elusive and familiar American town. This is a book that will enter your consciousness like a vivid dream.