In the Penny Arcade

Millhauser seems like several different people to me, so different are his short stories from one another. The title story of this short collection, for instance, is an imaginative trip into a penny arcade in an alternate universe, where the machines have a life of their own, a knowingness that only a 12-year-old boy can understand. “August Eschenburg” also deals with toys, in a sense, but the clockwork figures in this tale are never anything more than a form of art – though a very special form that soon becomes entirely dispensable to its erstwhile audience. How does the lack of an audience affect the artist? What does the artist do with himself, what is the meaning of his life, once no one appreciates his work any longer? Does show more that mean what he does is no longer valid work? This peculiar tale is a fascinating exploration of the transitory nature of work, art and life. “Cathay” sounds like a chapter from Calvino’s Invisible Cities, only told with a greater grace and beauty. And a few stories seem to be completely realistic, with no touch of the fantastic: “The Sledding Party,” for instance, about a teenagers’ winter bash, or “A Protest Against the Sun,” about a family’s outing to the beach on a hot summer day. These stories are extraordinary. show less

Until this collection, and particularly its final story, I had no idea that whole worlds could be created in such spectacular detail. This was my first experience reading millhauser and it certainly won't be the last. His stories have a familiar quality to them that make them easy to enter but once you're there, you realize you've entered a much dreamier, imaginative and often sinister place. I just don't know how else to describe it. Beautifully written stories.

I've tried to write a reveiw here something like seven times. I want to say that Millhauser turned me into a literary reader, but that's not really true. I don't know what that means, really.

I want to say that Millhauser shaped my understanding of fabulist fiction, but what is that - fabulist fiction? That does not matter, either.

I want to say that Millhauser's automatons and mechanical cowboy captured my imagination, or some stupid shit like that. I think that I can't write a review for this book, because it is still living in me, somehow, and that means that I have to lean on all kinds of meaningless writerly bullshit.

It was only a dollar on the half-price shelf,as was Ingalls' Mrs. Caliban, back when half-price was smelly and show more disorganized. show less

I've tried to write a reveiw here something like seven times. I want to say that Millhauser turned me into a literary reader, but that's not really true. I don't know what that means, really.

I want to say that Millhauser shaped my understanding of fabulist fiction, but what is that - fabulist fiction? That does not matter, either.

I want to say that Millhauser's automatons and mechanical cowboy captured my imagination, or some stupid shit like that. I think that I can't write a review for this book, because it is still living in me, somehow, and that means that I have to lean on all kinds of meaningless writerly bullshit.

It was only a dollar on the half-price shelf,as was Ingalls' Mrs. Caliban, back when half-price was smelly and show more disorganized. show less

An incredible blend of stories from August who makes incredible animated figures, to a magical trip to a penny arcade, and "Cathay" imaginary land.I love short stories and these are great