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What Happens at Night
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
5 posts | 4 read | 12 to read
An atmospheric, suspenseful story of a couples struggle to adopt a baby, while staying in a fading, grand European hotel. (Think: Barton Fink crossed with Patricia Highsmith) In this atmospheric, suspenseful novel, an American couple travels to a strange, snowy European city to adopt a baby, who they hope will resurrect their failing marriage. Their difficult journey leaves the wife, who is struggling with cancer, desperately weak, and her husband worries that her apparent illness will prevent the orphanage from releasing their child. The couple check into the cavernous and eerily deserted Borgarfjaroasysla Grand Imperial Hotel where the bar is always open, the restaurant serves thirteen-course dinners from centuries past, and the doors of the guest rooms have been salvaged from demolished opera houses. Their attempt to claim their baby is both helped and hampered by the people they encounter: an ancient, flamboyant chanteuse, a debauched businessman, an enigmatic faith healer, and a stoic bartender who dispenses an addictive, lichen-flavored schnapps. Nothing is as it seems in this mysterious, frozen world, and the longer the couple endure the punishing cold the less they seem to know about their marriage, themselves, and life itself. What Happens at Night is a "masterpiece" (Edmund White) poised on the cusp of reality, told by "an elegantly acute and mysteriously beguiling writer" (Richard Eder, The Boston Globe).
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shadowspeak17
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This turned out to be just the kind of book I‘d hoped it would be. The writing was great. It has a sort of minimalist prose and is very atmospheric. I feel like there‘s a lot that could be analyzed here, and I wish I were better at doing analyses so I could really dive into it. Still, even without analyzing it too deeply, it‘s a book I will be thinking about for a while.

#catsoflitsy #Phoenix

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Bookalong
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
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Pickpick

Misty and atmospheric! I really enjoyed this! So ominous and mysterious, nothing is as it seems, I couldn't put it down! Cameron's mezmorizing prose takes us deep inside the couples inner thoughts and desires. And the enigmatic and grim setting played in so well. I was so invested! Definitely reccomend this one! #bookreview #bookstagram

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shadowspeak17
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
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#3books I want to read next month

Well, I didn‘t end up getting to Saga this month, so it‘s going back on the list for October. The other two I have on hold at the library, and I‘m expecting my holds to be ready sometime within the next few weeks, so I‘ll probably end up reading them in October.

Thanks for organizing this photo challenge @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and @OriginalCyn620 ! It was fun! 😄

OriginalCyn620 Thanks for playing along! ❤️📚 4y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thanks for playing!!! 4y
Reggie Oh, I‘m excited for you on Survivor Song! I loved that book. 4y
shadowspeak17 @Reggie Oh, awesome! I‘m so excited for that one. I really like Paul Tremblay‘s writing. 4y
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Well-ReadNeck
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
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This strange, atmospheric novel was an absolute delight. And, yes, best enjoyed reading at night. The story was vaguely similar to an episode of The Romanoffs and equally disturbing. #ARC #Netgalley

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ReadingEnvy
What Happens at Night | Peter Cameron
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When we were looking for our first home, I read House of Leaves and had crazy dreams. It might be that the week of an adoption home study is not the week to read this novel - or the most perfect week! "The man" and "The woman" are in an unnamed Northern or is it Eastern European country to bring home the baby they are adopting. The journey has been long and once they arrive, nothing seems right and things get stranger and stranger.... ⤵️

ReadingEnvy I spent some of my reading experience as investigator, where are they? Some clues had me convinced of Finland or Estonia. Someplace with washed up circus performers, lichen schnapps, endless course meals, and shady businessmen. Other times I was reading like mad to see what would happen next. Some bits made me laugh and at one point I called the book wackadoodle, and it is, but it's also sometimes poignant or beautiful or dreamlike.⤵️

4y
ReadingEnvy .This is the first book I've read from this author but I've had an earlier work on my TBR for a long time. I'll be checking it out sooner now! 4y
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