In the Night Garden

I have to largely quote a friend reviewing the same book, who wrote

"A Chinese box of a tale, with one tale containing another, which contains yet another, sometimes to the depth of six or seven tales. And Valente has this way of mentioning rather wondrous magical things in an almost matter-of-fact way, and describing the ordinary as if it were exotic, which I liked a lot."

I can't think of a better way to put it.

A series of interconnected tales that require A LOT of concentration. I love the witty humor and love, love, LOVE the strong female characters in this book. That being said, it's nearly impossible to get through this book in a timely manner. I found myself having to put it down numerous times in order to process some of the stories. There were even times where I had an extreme urge to create a flow chart in order to piece the winding tales together. I'm not sure anyone can get through this book quickly and quite honestly I can't see why anyone would want to. This book is immersive, compelling and beautifully written and it deserves your undivided attention. 

Lovely, compelling. I went into it with a certain amount of trepidation about modern fairy tales; I didn't think there was much space available between being too much an Arabian Nights homage and being too clever entirely, but In The Night Garden finds that space and thrives there. It felt a bit more mature than [b:Palimpsest 3973532 Palimpsest Catherynne M. Valente https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320532857s/3973532.jpg 4019291], maybe just less dream-like. The interweaving tales, themes, and characters have just the right amount of complexity (I flipped back to read previous passages a bit, but didn't feel overwhelmed by the nested stories), gradually building up a picture of the world in which they take place. This is one of those books that I found myself thinking about constantly.

A modern reimagining of 1001 Arabian Nights wherein an outcast young woman relates a series of tales over several nights. Valente's prose echoes that of a transcribed oral tradition, with its parallelisms and colorful metaphors, for an oft engrossing series of adult fairy tales. Feminist in perspective, though never heavy handed. Simply delightful.

http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-of-orphans-tales-in-night-garden.html