A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up Readers
Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories canread full description
Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can
reviews
Feb 11, 2012
Kay
rated it: 
Tales within tales within tales, all woven together like a magical, colorful tapestry depicting griffins, dead moon walkers, beastly princesses, princely beasts, pirate saints, Stars, snake gods, and so much more, all written in dark ink around the eyes of a little girl. Reading Valente's prose is like dreaming; during the act, you understand everything and think you see the truth, but when jerked back into reality, the stories fade together into a colorful, abstract image. It's pretty and mea
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15 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
Grace
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"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," or so the old quote says. I can't help but remember this saying as I attempt to write down some of my fragmented, all too feeble thoughts regarding Catherynne Valente's masterwork, The Orphan Tales: In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice. To start out with a bang, I have to tell you what my reaction was upon completing the last page of the second book. It was 1am, and I set the book down, after having to re-r
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8 comments
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(25 people liked it)
Jun 11, 2011
Nicole
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The tales told to the young Prince come from the tattoos inked on the skin of a young woman. These same strange tattoos that are keeping her isolated from the rest of the sultan's household, make her seem fascinating to the prince. Each night he sneaks out to meet with her in the Sultan's gardens.
This book is two series of interwoven, short, personal tales told from the tattoos. Tales that ultimately braid together. Like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales there is a series of people's pilgri More...
This book is two series of interwoven, short, personal tales told from the tattoos. Tales that ultimately braid together. Like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales there is a series of people's pilgri More...
3 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Jun 09, 2011
mark
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Tales within tales, tales out of space, tales that spring from stars that fall from sky to take human shape; the writer writes like the dreamer dreams dreams - some dreams yearning and romantic, others dark and tragic, each dream holding a little bit of the next dream in its heart: the story as Oriental Ouroboros: the Arabian Nights as template, as both starting point and point of resolution, themes and metaphors and symbols slowly surfacing, to disappear and then reappear again, transformed, re
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4 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Mar 01, 2009
Susan
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This has taken forever for me to finish. I just didn't want to go back to it. The first part is beautifully written, but her prose feels very effortful, as if all the beauty had to be hammered out, line by line, and she wants you to see each stroke. It finally picked up, but the interconnecting stories create a jumbled mess of a plot, not at all helped by the fact that many characters live for centuries, therefore making a general timeline almost impossible to put together. Very prettily des
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Oct 28, 2007
Res
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The one with the stories within stories within stories, many of them centering around a maiden who's been transformed into a monster.
I found the Arabian Nights-style format confusing and distracting a lot of the time (despite the helpful chapter titles: The Tale of the Prince and the Goose, Concluded), but in the end, as characters reappeared in new contexts, I began to see how the structure allowed for a more textured and interesting book.
I don't understand the Tiptree More...
I found the Arabian Nights-style format confusing and distracting a lot of the time (despite the helpful chapter titles: The Tale of the Prince and the Goose, Concluded), but in the end, as characters reappeared in new contexts, I began to see how the structure allowed for a more textured and interesting book.
I don't understand the Tiptree More...
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(5 people liked it)
Apr 08, 2009
Emilie
rated it:
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden articulates many ways that identity is constructed, and specifically the identity of the outsider/the other.
I am really drawn in by this theme of beasts/monstrousness/people who have experience outside of the "normal"- and the loneliness and isolation they experience. The motif of otherness is explored through witnessing many characters journey through their isolation and pain to reclamation and rebirth-finding connection to their selve More...
I am really drawn in by this theme of beasts/monstrousness/people who have experience outside of the "normal"- and the loneliness and isolation they experience. The motif of otherness is explored through witnessing many characters journey through their isolation and pain to reclamation and rebirth-finding connection to their selve More...
Apr 19, 2008
Izlinda
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 17, 2009
Wealhtheow
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Stories are told within stories, moving ever inward (or outward), echoing each others themes and characters. A very imaginative take on what it means to be a fantasy archetype--a maiden, a monster, a captain, a witch. Each tells their own story, and the characters in the story tell *their* own story, and so on. Because there's no prolonged narrative tension, nor any one character in every story, the book lost my interest a few times. I'm glad I perservered, because for every lackluster tale
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Dec 08, 2011
Frank
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Valente certainly has a way about her words. I love her writing style. I really enjoyed the book but I have to say I found certain portions difficult to get through. Not because the writing was bad or even the stories weren't interesting. It was because of the fragmentation of the stories through the nesting. You'd get really into one story just to be ripped away into another. Sometimes by the time you got back to the main line you'd forgotten where you were. [return]I enjoyed both the books, bu
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Jan 24, 2009
Jeff
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This is a lovely book of fairy tale(s) set in an interesting frame narrative. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but I was very struck with the way that all the stories blended into each other, as though the Arabian Nights (its obvious and overwhelming influence) were layered like an onion, instead of serial like a pod full of peas.
The book deals with broad fairy-tale-revisionist/feminist themes, such as the nature of heroism, the magic power of the non-beautiful and More...
The book deals with broad fairy-tale-revisionist/feminist themes, such as the nature of heroism, the magic power of the non-beautiful and More...
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 24, 2011
Suzanne
rated it:
I may go back to this book -- or I may not. As so many have noted, it is not a work you can pick up when you have a few minutes to read, and I simply don't have the hours to devote to reading it straight through. Although, frankly, I can't imagine doing that, either.
I can understand why so many rate it so highly, but -- the word "pretentious" keeps coming to mind. As well as "convoluted" and "needlessly complicated." Valente is clearly in love with languag More...
I can understand why so many rate it so highly, but -- the word "pretentious" keeps coming to mind. As well as "convoluted" and "needlessly complicated." Valente is clearly in love with languag More...
Dec 03, 2011
Isa
rated it:
x-posted from http://troubadourcottage.blogspot.com/
I adore this book. Forget bad fantasy, forget bad writers full stop, this is the real deal. Imagine if the stories of the Arabian Nights were told by a palace outcast, the shadows around her eyes dark with rings of writing. Imagine if these stories, of greater scope and landscape and feminist leanings than the originals, were in fact interconnected with one another, weaving in and out to create a history of an entire culture. Imagine More...
I adore this book. Forget bad fantasy, forget bad writers full stop, this is the real deal. Imagine if the stories of the Arabian Nights were told by a palace outcast, the shadows around her eyes dark with rings of writing. Imagine if these stories, of greater scope and landscape and feminist leanings than the originals, were in fact interconnected with one another, weaving in and out to create a history of an entire culture. Imagine More...
Jun 04, 2011
Jdaniels
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This has to be one of the best books I've read in a very long time.
"In the Night Garden" is set up like the Arabian Nights - stories within stories. The outer framework involves a young girl telling these stories to one of the sultan's young sons. She begins a story ... and that character runs into a character who tells a story ... and in that story the character runs into a character who tells a story ... etc. I think at one point I figured out it went 9 stories deep from More...
"In the Night Garden" is set up like the Arabian Nights - stories within stories. The outer framework involves a young girl telling these stories to one of the sultan's young sons. She begins a story ... and that character runs into a character who tells a story ... and in that story the character runs into a character who tells a story ... etc. I think at one point I figured out it went 9 stories deep from More...
May 23, 2011
Deanna
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Normally, when I pass out five-star reviews, it's because I like a thing so much that I can't think rationally about it.
Not so here.
The beginning of the book really annoyed me, as a matter of fact, because it hit what were for me several false notes. Fortunately, I was reading in bed and didn't feel like getting up to get a new book, and pushed past them.
This is a book that took a while to pay off for me, but once it started to do so, it payed off in a big way. More...
Not so here.
The beginning of the book really annoyed me, as a matter of fact, because it hit what were for me several false notes. Fortunately, I was reading in bed and didn't feel like getting up to get a new book, and pushed past them.
This is a book that took a while to pay off for me, but once it started to do so, it payed off in a big way. More...
Feb 08, 2011
Arachne8x
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This book is probably like One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, but I've never read the book (it's next on my list). The framing story is of an orphan girl who has stories written on her eyelids. She reads the stories to a young boy who comes to visit her.
The stories are fantastical and fascinating. In some cases they are quite dark. This is definitely not a book for young children and I'd advise the parents of older children to read it before recommending it to their kids.
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The stories are fantastical and fascinating. In some cases they are quite dark. This is definitely not a book for young children and I'd advise the parents of older children to read it before recommending it to their kids.
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Oct 09, 2010
Kathleen
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The Orphan’s Tales is seriously ambitious – ‘the Arabian Nights for our time’ according to the blurbs. The book combines myriad individual stories with an over-arching plot fit for an epic novel of the world’s creation, fallen stars, journeys across oceans and through dangerous cities, and one girl’s discovery of her true identity.
Not only does Catherynne Valente revel in great story-telling, she remakes ancient myths and fairy tales to express bold, modern ideas. This is a feminist r More...
Not only does Catherynne Valente revel in great story-telling, she remakes ancient myths and fairy tales to express bold, modern ideas. This is a feminist r More...
Apr 12, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
This really is a beautifully written book. It's a story within a story within a story kind of book. Because of that, some people might get frustrated by a lack of action, essentially everything is being told to you and so everything is in the past tense. But the characters are wonderful, they are well written with pasts, and regrets and wants and desires that they will tell you through a tale. And the tales are intertwinning, with characters from one tale encountering characters from another
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Dec 30, 2009
Jessica
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Five stars--not because the book is without flaws but because I think the uniqueness of its strengths makes up for its deficiencies. This isn't the most pleasant reading experience I've ever had. No doubt the responsibility for this is shared between the author's quirks and mine. I felt the prose was a bit (and sometimes significantly more than a bit) overworked. I know it's the sort of poetic, native-sounding style the author was going for, but I find it unpleasant to be suffocated by great
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Jul 07, 2009
Michelle
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a son of a sultan sneaks out of the palace at night to listen to a more-than-half wild creature tell him wonderous tales. she's an orphan of unknown parentage living out in the gardens of the palace, and she has innumerable stories inked across her eyelids that she spins out unfinished night to night like Scheherazade. as the characters in each tale interact with someone else, they begin telling their own tale before finishing the first, resulting in a russian-nested-dolls approach to storytel
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May 22, 2010
Siria
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This is much the kind of book I would expect to be written by someone who changed her name to 'Catherynne', with that spelling—it's all fantastical creatures and quests and magic. It is a much more intelligent book than I expected, with stories nested within stories, and gender tropes are inverted (there are no damsels in distress here) to my great satisfaction. The maiden is the monster is the pirate; women can grow up to be fierce warriors.
However, the Arabian Nights-style format c More...
However, the Arabian Nights-style format c More...
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Aug 31, 2011
Terri
rated it:
Boy, can Valente tell a story! Not only that, but she can weave together so many strands of storytelling that it's a marvel to behold the resulting tapestry. She tucks stories within stories, up to seven levels deep (if I counted correctly). And yet readers are led through strange and magical lands by a confident hand so that nothing is confusing and nothing is lost. This is a guide to trust! Can't wait to read the next one. Highly recommended if you are looking for a real immersion experience,
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Apr 02, 2011
Black Cynocephalus
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In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente is a novel that is told through a series of stories within stories, and each story runs for about four or five pages before there is a shift to the next one usually related by a character from that particular story, or steps back to the previous story which, of course, was told by one of its characters, and then that story continues once again. Oftentimes, up to five stories are running concurrently between each other. The novel cuts back and forth be
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 01, 2012
Gretchen
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I can't quite give this a five, though it's a very strong four. I love the interwoven tales within tales and recurring characters, and how the stories start off as "proper" fairy tales that then twist off sideways in new and interesting ways. This was a reread, but my memory is poor enough (a definite handicap in a book this intricate) that most of it was fresh.
It's definitely wonderful, but it's written in a way that keeps bringing me out of immersion; it's so cleverly w More...
It's definitely wonderful, but it's written in a way that keeps bringing me out of immersion; it's so cleverly w More...
Jun 13, 2011
Howard
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I give up. I'm 2/3 of the way through this book and I can't read any more. I don't care how it ends. I've been lost through most of the book. I've only stuck it out this long because I couldn't stand the thought of giving up on a book - any book. In the Night Garden is a series of short tales nested within each other, all supposedly contributing to the overall story line. For example, there might be a woman telling the story of her son and in the middle of that story, her son meets an old
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Aug 12, 2010
Nancy
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Alone in a garden lives a young girl filled with stories. Called a demon due to the dark markings around her eyes, she has never had a single person to share these stories with. That is until a boy creeps into the garden, and befriends her. Against the wishes of his tyrannical older sister, he continues to visit her night after night, all just to hear the wonderful tales she spins.
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden is the optional second book for a book club this month (the main More...
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden is the optional second book for a book club this month (the main More...
Aug 01, 2011
Sarah
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The problem with trying to review a book like "In the Night Garden" is that, as someone who isn't even in the league of Catherynne Valente's talent, I really lack the vocabulary to do it justice. It is all the adjectives a million book reviewers have used before: wondrous, beautiful, magical, lyrical, fantastical. How then to differentiate? To make it clear that it is all these things and beyond?
Suffice it to say, then, that there is no other author who brings me the sheer More...
Suffice it to say, then, that there is no other author who brings me the sheer More...
Jan 23, 2012
Melani
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Lovely. I loved the nestled stories, each rich and lovely on their own but also part of the greater story. The story crafting is masterful and the language is beautiful, but what I loved most of all was the unexpectedness of it. Female characters were front and center and each one was not quite the expected type.
I do think that once I've finished with the second book though that I'll want to go back and create some sort of timeline for all the stories, just so I can make sure I r More...
I do think that once I've finished with the second book though that I'll want to go back and create some sort of timeline for all the stories, just so I can make sure I r More...
Nov 02, 2011
Arvin1
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I enjoyed In the Night Garden ("ING"), but was not particularly wowed by it. Its a dark adult fantasy in the same vein as the better know works of Neil Gaiman such as Neverwhere and Stardust. Reading ING, one can sense that it dervies from the Arabian Nights in that it is also structured as a collection of stories. However the mythology is not discernably Middle Eastern (probably more Western and similar to Hans Christian Anderson tales than anything). What was particularly interesting
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Sep 30, 2008
Michael
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The Orphan's Tales is exactly the sort of book I love right now. The stories are rich and beautiful, and they overlap and interweave; characters come and go, and come back again, and everything happens in short little bites of fantasy. I didn't want it to end, and thankfully I have the second OT book to read someday. Just surprisingly good.
