Enchanted Night ~Steven Millhauser

–published 1999
–Crown
–112 pages
–9/10 stars

I was made aware of Steven Millhauser when Chris reviewed this novella on his website in early 2010. I wasted no time in ordering a copy from my local library. In early April of 2010 I wrote:

“Enchanted Night is an all-too-brief glimpse into the magical and mysterious events that happen to a handful of residents in a small Connecticut town on a particular hot summer moonlit night. As darkness is pierced by the almost-full moon, strange forces begin to work on a group of people and inanimate objects in seemingly random, unconnected ways. Millhauser weaves these diverse elements into a cohesive though unconventional story, a story with its own set of dangers and mysteries yet filled with such beauty that it is nigh unto impossible to put this book down.

In Enchanted Night, Steven Millhauser introduces characters and situations in brief (sometimes one paragraph) stories that build upon themselves and ultimately each other as the night unfolds. Individual “chapters” are sometimes less than a page long, seldom more than one or two pages, which lends itself to a quick read because of the temptation to read “just one more”.

In the light of the moon a mannequin begins to feel stirrings of life, children hear the siren song of an unknown player. Five code-named teenage girls break into people’s houses and leave notes announcing “WE ARE YOUR DAUGHTERS”. Attic toys suddenly spring to life, a 14 year old girl believes the only place she can feel free is on the moon. A single man who lives with his mother discovers himself having an unexpected adventure. These and other even more eccentric story lines dominate a book that one cannot help but find, as Chris did, enchanting.”

I apologize for the wholesale plagiarism from an earlier review but I wanted to give you some idea of the novel before issuing a half-hearted warning: Kailana and I read this together on this past moonlit Friday night and we will both be answering a series of questions about the novella. I have made an effort in my answers not to spoil the reading experience with any revelations of the outcome of any story lines. We all define “spoilers” in our own way and I do talk in a little detail about a few characters/situations.

You have now had a mini-review and if you choose not to follow the jump then I can rest easy knowing that I have once again pimped this book. 🙂 But if you would like please come along for more discussion of Enchanted Night and be sure to check out Kailana’s thoughts on the book.

1. The story takes place over the course of one night with a cast of characters who are obviously night owls. Are you a night owl/can you relate? Have any moonlit night adventures of your own?

I consider myself a night owl, but if I was held up in comparison to the cast of characters in Millhauser’s novella I would be considered the equivalent of a child with an early bedtime. I detailed my regrets concerning nocturnal adventures recently in the post The Lost Art of Snarking Out. Since putting down those words I have taken some night strolls but have yet to experience an all-night adventure.

My moonlit adventures have been few. These days if I stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning it is because I am lost in an imaginary world created by a team of game developers or, more rarely, gripped by a fit of nostalgia listening to music online. Those instances are becoming fewer as I get older and acutely feel the results of a night with little sleep.

I do somewhat envy Haverstraw’s schedule:

“His waking hours are divided into three segments: from one in the afternoon to six at night he gets through the day, from seven to midnight he writes, and from midnight to five in the morning he gets through the night. He sleeps from five in the morning to one in the afternoon.”

Considering one of the ways he “gets through the night” is taking walks and visiting with his neighbor, I feel drawn to his schedule. It is the ultimate “night owl” way to live.

2. How did the structure of the novella work for you, brief snippets of story intertwined and woven together into a whole?

I enjoy the fact that all that happens to the various characters, human and otherwise, happens in the course of just one night. Millhauser presents everything in very short “chapters”, snippets of action that the reader sees briefly before moving on to the next. In that way he tells multiple stories that are slowly but surely woven together into one “enchanted” night.

The structure works for me for me because it reads very quickly. You feel a compulsion to turn the pages simply for the surprise of what happens next. I also enjoy it because it makes the more fantastical elements of the story feel less implausible. You don’t have a great deal of time to dwell on just how strange certain parts of the story are because as soon as you start thinking that way you are focused on a more “normal” interaction. The more mundane elements of the story juxtaposed against the fantastical creates such an interesting mosaic.

3. Which characters stood out to you and why? Did you relate to or like any characters in particular? Are there any of the story lines that you didn’t care for?

I will try not to recreate the entire novel here, because I enjoy so many of the characters.

I already mentioned Haverstraw and a part of my personality that feels envious of his schedule. I will merely add that as a writer who has yet to succeed, but still hopes to, Haverstraw embodies some of the feelings of dreams/life passing him by that I certainly experience at times. I also love that Haverstraw is a “collector”. Wouldn’t you love to go through his house? It is sure to be full of treasures:

“Haverstraw crosses the room, switches off the overhead light, and makes his way through the unfinished part of the attic, filled with the abandoned games of his adolescence, the stuffed animals of his childhood. He never throws anything out. Somewhere in a shoebox are all the little prizes from the cereal boxes of thirty years ago, still in their transparent crinkly plastic wrappers. In a drawer of the old dresser sit piles of old bubble gum cards no one has ever heard of: science-fiction cards, movie-star cards, fire-engine cards. He still has his old patrol-boy badge on its white strap, his old paper targets full of BB holes. He ought to clear out all this junk, but it would be like throwing away his childhood.”

There is something both melancholy and magical about those lines.

William Cooper, “Coop”, is another character I really like. I chalk that up mostly to (embarrassing confession here) my affection for the Kim Cattrall film, Mannequin.

I also really like Danny, largely because he reminds me of me when I was that age. He has the normal desires of an adolescent boy but he is also a really good kid. His friends are more like the kind of kids I did not hang out with and did not want to be when I was that age.

4. When you were a teenager would you have wanted to be one of the ‘daughters’ who was breaking into houses? As an adult would you want to have your house broken in to?

That whole sequence of the book is very interesting to me, as you get the impression that these girls are at heart really good kids who are merely trying to find an inventive way to break out of the pressures of adolescence and the societal pressures that are placed on them because of their gender.

I’m not sure I ever could have been that bold, but I can empathize with their adventurous spirit. I don’t know about anyone else, but at heart I am a voyeur (and not in the nasty way). Whenever I take a walk, or drive through neighborhoods, I am always curious about what peoples’ houses look like inside. I wonder how people decorate, what they collect, if they read and what books they have, what hobbies do they spend time on, etc. Among other things these girls are able to satisfy that curiosity.

And I think I’d like the idea of them “visiting” my house. I would be curious about what little nothing they would take.

5. The woman who lives alone chooses a special name for herself. What would your special name be?

Mine would probably be Moon Catcher or Stardust Man or something to do with something to do with the night sky. I could pick something with my astrological sign, like Autumn Scorpio.

6. How would you classify this novella, genre-wise, and do you find yourself making any comparisons to other authors/stories?

There is certainly a reason that this novella would most likely be shelved in the “literature” or “fiction” section vs. the Science Fiction/Fantasy section. I suspect that would be partly because Millhauser is a a Pulitzer Prize Winner, but it would also be because of its genre-blending. It clearly has fantasy elements, but not high-fantasy. Magic realism is blended in there. There is a little “coming of age” thrown in, some mid-life crisis, certainly some fairy tale/folklore elements. I had mentioned to you that this novella has given off Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll vibes to me, also perhaps a little Charles de Lint. But Millhauser is truly his own writer and both this and the short story collection I’ve read, Dangerous Laughter, showcase his comfort with many different genres of fiction.

7. How did you find the experience of reading this in one go on a moonlit summer night?

I loved it. I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting on a hot, moonlit summer night. I have to thank you, Kailana, for mentioning the book and being willing to do a buddy read with me because I have wanted to experience this book as close as I could to its own setting ever since the first time I read it. I took a few breaks during and then after the reading to step outside in the heat and humidity to stare up at the gorgeous moon. There were a few clouds in the sky blowing past which made the scene even more beautiful.

8. What other thoughts do you have that you want to share about the book?

Ever since the first time Chris reviewed this book it has tugged at me. I quickly tracked it down after his review and devoured it. I then turned around and read it aloud to my wife. On one other occasion I re-borrowed it from the library and read half of it before returning the book. This year I finally bought my own hardback copy of the book and I consider it a treasure. So much happens in so few pages and different things have stood out to me with each reading of the book.

I find my imagination stirred.

This is one of those books that I highly recommend and secretly hope that everyone will one day fall in love with.