<![CDATA[Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories]]>

false <![CDATA[Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories]]> 1540810 4 From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author hailed by The New Yorker as “a virtuoso of waking dreams” comes a dazzling new collection of darkly comic stories united by their obsession with obsession. In Dangerous Laughter, Steven Millhauser transports us to unknown universes that uncannily resemble our own. The collection is divided into three parts that fit seamlessly together as a whole. It opens with a bang, as “Cat ’n’ Mouse” reimagines the deadly ritual between cartoon rivals in a comedy of dynamite and anvils—a masterly prologue that sets the stage for the alluring, very grown-up twists that follow. Part one, “Vanishing Acts,” features stories of risk and escape: a lonely woman disappears without a trace; a high school boy becomes entangled with his best friend’s troubled sister; and a group of teenagers play a treacherous game that pushes them deep into “the kingdom of forbidden things.” Excess reigns in the vivid, haunting places of Part two’s “Impossible Architectures,” where domes enclose whole cities, and a king’s master miniaturist creates objects so tiny that soon his entire world is invisible. Finally, “Heretical Histories” presents startling alternatives to the remembered past. “A Precursor of the Cinema” proposes a new, enigmatic form of illusion. And in the astonishing “The Wizard of West Orange” a famous inventor sets out to simulate the sense of touch—but success brings disturbing consequences. Sensual, mysterious, Dangerous Laughter is a mesmerizing journey through brilliantly realized labyrinths of mortal pleasures that stretch the boundaries of the ordinary world to their limits—and occasionally beyond. 1533013 12 2 2008 Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories total:516|5:115|4:202|3:143|2:45|1:11| 516 1913 1344 166 3 3 false false Sat Apr 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 23 15:53:38 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 06 06:50:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sat Jan 31 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 10:20:50 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 12:10:07 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 14 16:25:23 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 28 17:29:48 -0800 2009 1
...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jul 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 06:07:57 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 16:04:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jun 21 12:34:24 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 06 18:35:26 -0800 2008 Sat Jun 21 12:34:24 -0700 2008 Harper's and The New Yorker. Encountering his work in a magazine is like unexpectedly finding a portal into an alternate universe. A man writes a letter to his wife in which he explains why he's elected to stop speaking because of the inadequacy of language. A minia...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:55:21 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:55:21 -0800 2009 Pulitzer Prize��_�"winner Steven Millhauser (Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer) has focused his attention in recent years on the novella and short fiction. The author culls his latest collection from stories published in The New Yorker, Harper's, and other venues over the last d...

more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 11:21:38 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 11:22:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 13 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 15:06:05 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 15:38:44 -0800 2008 Dangerous Laughter held my attention throughout. It is fascinating and extremely well-written, pulling you into str...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 15 08:47:09 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 10:55:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 12:07:34 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 12:52:36 -0700 2009
Millh...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jun 21 11:27:03 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 17:05:07 -0700 2009
After a disappointing collection by what I thought was a reliable author, I picked up another set of short stories based purely on the appeal of its cover. According to the info. on the back, the image was cul...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 20:01:31 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 17:55:22 -0700 2009 Dangerous Laughter contains stories with a wider array of styles than I'm used to from him. His earlier collections that I've read (The Knife Thrower, The Barnum Museum, In the Penny Arcade) are dominated by his imaginary histories ...more...]]> 4 0 false true Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Feb 23 19:44:41 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 11 20:15:19 -0700 2009
Ok, well this certainly isn't a sad book. Nor a funny one, no, it's really probably one of the more disturbing collections I've read lately. Originally caught my eye when I saw it'd been picked by the NY times this year: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/......more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 11:48:43 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 21:55:28 -0700 2009 Dangerous Laughter is a collection of thirteen stories -- at least that's what the cover says. I haven't counted the number of stories myself, but I think I can trust it. Like, can you imagine the anxiety the publisher might have had if they had already printed 50,000 copies and ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Nov 21 14:10:59 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 21 14:23:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon May 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 06:03:41 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 10:48:26 -0700 2009 Synecdoche, New York, I was struck by the thematic similarities between the film and several of Millhauser's stories- primarily: The Dome, The Other Town, A Change in Fashion, Here at the Historical Society, and In the Reign of Harad IV. T...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 12:27:51 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 12:37:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 13 06:45:01 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 06:49:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Mar 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 09:02:47 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 07:34:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 20:07:55 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 17:47:16 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1540810