Enchanting at FOUR stars

A few pages in and I began to wonder if this was a story or just broken pages of one-liners. I wasn’t going to like this book. But, fortunately I kept reading.

This is a book, hesitant to say ‘this is a story’ because there is no plot and not a hint of a conventional story line, about one hot summer night. But not just any night. It is a tale about one night under a full moon where we, as readers, become voyeurs into the lives of several protagonists living in the same town who venture out after midnight.

Included under the spell is a mannequin, some dolls, loners, losers, lovers, dreamers, and the reader.

A night of revelations.

Random and unconnected. Magical and mysterious. With slightly dark and whimsical creepiness, I found myself under that moon and in that hot summer night, where the smell of cut grass and the tang of the ocean lulled me into a gentle imaginative consolation.

The vignettes, some only a page, others only a short sentence, led no where, and yet………I couldn’t help myself. I had to turn every page to the end.

And now, having finished this book, I look forward to a full moon on a hot summer night, when I too will venture out.

Millhauser’s words put a spell on me.

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