That Night
by Alice Mcdermott
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alice McdermottEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-01-12
ISBN: 0385333307
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of That Night
Book Review: Forget the movie - read the book
Summary: 5 Stars
I've just re-read this book after almost 20 years and found it as fresh and original and as moving as the first time. McDermott's style is sparse yet rich - if that sounds like a contradiction, think of a short poem that evokes an entire world in a few lines. This book does the same, in prose that sometimes can be read like a poem, in less than 200 pages. It is carefully constructed, moving back and forth in time and among the characters, something other reviewers found confusing; I suggest they stick to what's on the bestseller rack at their local supermarket to avoid over-exercising their brains. I also find the suggestion annoying that the book is somehow not as good as the movie because it avoids all that Hollywood balderdash about love being so strong that a guy will do anything to get back together with the girl taken from him "to spend the rest of his life with her". Instead of this sort of "and they lived happily ever after" trash the book shows us - lets us experience - the much more moving, bitter reality of life, both in the masterful descriptions of the suburban families on and around "That Night" and in what becomes of the two protagonists in the years that follow. Highly recommended to anyone interested in great literature; NOT recommended to anyone who has seen the movie and now wants to relive it by reading the book or who wants to read "a nice romantic novel" - that's not what this is, as one disappointed reviewer noted. To him/her my advice would be, if you want to get drunk quickly, try bourbon instead of champagne.
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