More Symbols than Plot

Dec 2020
The Starless Sea - Erin Morgernstern – Vintage, 2019
* * *
Well, The Night Circus was always going to be a hard act to follow, and while this isn't in the same league, it is still an interesting book. As it is set partly in a fantasy land consisting of an underground ocean of honey with harbours which are story repositories, I suspect that Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories may have been an inspiration (along with Kate Bush's album Aerial, of course). Rushdie's book is a whimsical children's tale full of absurd images and characters which doesn't really do justice to its great title. Morgernstern's take is intended to be a bit deeper, but I'm not sure that it succeeds.
( Read more... )