The King in the Tree : Three Novellas

Rating:
Summary: So Beautiful and Perfect They are Awe-Inspiring
Review: I think it says something very sad about contemporary reading habits when one sees how few reviews there are here for this dazzling and achingly beautiful book and so many for something like Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE, a book that doesn't even merit the appellation, "mind candy."

Steven Millhauser is certainly one of America's best writers and, even though he does write novels (MARTIN DRESSLER won the Pulitzer Prize), I think he's still better known for his novellas and his short stories. Two of the three novellas contained in THE KING IN THE TREE are certainly among the most beautiful and heartbreaking I've ever read.

When it comes to writing about love...thwarted love or heartbreaking love...no one does it better than Millhauser. His plots and characters always contain something of the enchanted and his prose is gorgeous and lyrical, magical and mystical and so crystalline in its purity that it truly is mesmerizing and yes, enchanting. Yet, Millhauser never overwrites and that, I think, is, at least in part, the key to his virtuosity.

The three novellas in THE KING IN THE TREE all revolve around tales of illicit love...with a little hate thrown in for good measure.

I admit I didn't care for the first novella, "Revenge," but that was just a matter of taste. It's masterfully written and a real five-star treat and it could well turn out to be your favorite.

"Revenge" is told in a monologue as a middle-aged widow guides a prospective buyer through each room in her home. From the very first page we know, despite her apparent friendliness, that all is not "right" in this narrator's world and that her relationship with the prospective buyer isn't "strictly business," but we don't know why. Little by little, piece by piece, Millhauser lets us know why and the end of this tale is dripping with sarcasm and irony. Millhauser could have easily titled the piece, "Sweet Revenge" and gotten away with it.

The second and third novellas are more typical of Millhauser. They showcase the enchanted, the transcendent, the artistic and the visionary more than does the first.

The second novella, "An Adventure of Don Juan" was my very favorite because of its dark, brooding, melancholy yet comic qualities. It really doesn't take itself too seriously and I liked that aspect of it.

When the novella opens, Don Juan is, strangely enough, finding life unbearable in Venice. Despite his many conquests and accomplishments (or maybe in spite of them), Don Juan is bored (and at at the age of thirty, too). Fleeing Venice and the more considerable pleasures of the south, Don Juan heads for England because it's "different." Don Juan really doesn't know what to make of England and he imagines it as a "cloudland" inhabited by "pale haired queens."

In England, Don Juan is the guest of an eccentric antiquarian and landscape designer, Augustus Hood, a vintage Millhauserian character. Swan Park, Hood's English country estate, is also vintage Millhauser in that nothing is as it seems to be.

Hood lives with his wife, Mary and her sister, Georgiana. Don Juan, of course, immediately feels his ennui lifting as he prepares to seduce both Mary and Georgiana. His only problem (at first), lies in deciding who shall be first...Mary or Georgiana, for they both have their charms. Mary is the more romantic, but Georgiana is the more vivacious.

This time, however, Don Juan's plans go terribly awry and, in scenes and set pieces that are both comic and bittersweet, Don Juan experiences nights of sleepless frustration rather than nights of rousing passion. The rake, to his enormous consternation, is far from immune to the heartache he so casually inflicts on others.

Even though "An Adventure of Don Juan" was my favorite novella, I have to admit that the title one is no doubt the best. This novella absolutely shimmers with beauty and incandescence. It's so lovely and so heartbreaking, that I felt simply awed by both the story and Millhauser's talent in its retelling.

"The King in the Tree" is Millhauser's retelling of the doomed love of Tristan and Ysolt as narrated by Thomas of Cornwall. "The King in the Tree" is the novella that really showcases Millhauser's skill in bringing to life emotions like passion, jealousy, subterfuge, betrayal and chicanery to the very fullest. I would assume that most people are already familiar with the plot, but for those who aren't, it centers around the King, his Queen, Ysolt, and his nephew, Tristan and the romantic triangle that will end up costing one of them his, or her, life.

THE KING IN THE TREE is a gorgeous collection of novellas...so gorgeous they are truly awe-inspiring. I wish I had more superlatives with which to describe them, but I don't.

Anyone who loves beautiful fiction or highly literary fiction must read this book and anyone who wants to write literary fiction needs to read this book. THE KING IN THE TREE is the most beautiful book I've read in years. I'll sure I'll reread it many times and I'll certainly never forget it. This is Millhauser at his very, very best.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite
Review: The three novellas contained in this book are perhaps the most exquisite I've ever read and it pains me to see this beautiful book with but three reviews previous to mine. Anyone who hasn't read "The King in the Tree" is really missing something extraordinarily special.

The first novella, "Revenge" was simply not to my taste but it is perfectly crafted and oozing in irony and sarcasm. Your taste might be very different from mine and this could well end up being your favorite among the three. It is the least "flowery" and the one told in the most spare, but perfect, prose.

"An Adventure of Don Juan" was my favorite because of its overriding sense of melancholia, something I like in a book. In this novella, Don Juan's adventure at an English manor house is quite different from his adventures in Spain or other parts of continental Europe. I loved every word of this novella, from the first to the last.

The title novella, "The King in the Tree" is a heartbreaking retelling of the story of Tristan and Isolde told from the viewpoint of Oliver Cromwell. As the Amazon editorial review says, this novella is a small masterpiece. While I preferred the second novella just a little more, I do have to say that I finished reading this one with a sense of awe. If Millhauser can write something this crystalline in its perfection, this moving, this absolutely beautiful, then I feel the man can surely write anything at all. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever been fortunate enough to read. This is what every "would be" writer should aspire to.

If you love good fiction and you haven't read "The King in the Tree" you are really cheating yourself. Buy or borrow a copy today. This is probably the most beautiful book and the most perfectly crafted book I've ever read. I feel so lucky to own a copy.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly gorgeous
Review: This dazzling collection should be of interest to all lovers of Interstitial Fiction, for Millhauser is a master at blending different genres -- myth, fantasy, surrealism, historical fiction and Romance, contemporary realism, horror -- into elegant, innovative, and utterly gripping stories. He is, quite simply, one of the best writers of our day -- and this collection of three stunning novellas is not to be missed.