false 39782160 21628 1540810 0307267563 9780307267566 165 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1540810.Dangerous_Laughter_Thirteen_Stories 3.73 522 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.]]> 12589 3.75 2749 450 2008 Should probably finish this - I'm doing a presentation on Millhauser for my writing class. 0 2009-03-11T08:17:25-07:00 489704 2009-03-11T08:17:25-07:00 I heard Alec Baldwin read "The Dome" on NPR. Had no idea it was in this collection! A nice surprise. 0 2009-02-11T09:06:10-08:00 373192 145 2009-02-11T09:06:10-08:00 These short stories are creepy, but in a good way. 0 2009-02-05T17:36:25-08:00 352115 97 2009-02-05T17:36:25-08:00 0 2009-02-03T04:43:17-08:00 341032 34 2009-02-03T04:43:17-08:00 3 0 false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 10 09:38:01 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 17 13:01:52 -0700 2009
Steven Millhauser has a really distinct voice which is present in all thirteen of the stories in this collection. It's a detached n...more...]]>