Waiting on Wednesday: The Great Night by Chris Adrian

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Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release we can't wait to read.

 
My pick this week is The Great Night by Chris Adrian, one of The New Yorker's 20 Under 40. It was featured in this week's Library Journal pre-pub alert. Here's what LJ had to say:
I could be highlighting this latest from Adrian because The New Yorker recently included him among America’s top young writers in its “20 Under 40” feature. But in fact I’m doing it mostly because I’m entranced by the plot: a fresh and wild retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. It’s Midsummer Eve 2008 in San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park, where Titania, Oberon, and the other faerie folk now reside in exile. Her adopted son dead, a grief-stricken Titania releases terrible forces upon the world—not good news for three mortals trapped in the park and inside the memories of a loved one that each had lost or forsaken. Meanwhile, a homeless man wants to depose the city’s evil mayor by staging a musical version of Soylent Green. Decidedly darker and crazier than Shakespeare’s play, this would be fun to read with the original and should appeal to literary types of all stripes.
How beautiful is that cover? The Great Night will be published April 26, 2011, but you can pre-order it from Amazon or an independent bookstore now.

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Comments

  1. ZibileeNovember 10, 2010 at 8:58 AM

    This does sound like a rather interesting retelling, and like something that I am going to have to keep my eye out for. Thanks for sharing it with us. It goes on the list...

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShondaNovember 10, 2010 at 9:58 AM

    You're right... the cover is gorgeous! This is one outside of my comfort zone, so thanks for the preview.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jan von HarzNovember 10, 2010 at 3:59 PM

    Oh one of my favorite plays ever. I am putting this on my wish list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nic @ Irresistible ReadsNovember 10, 2010 at 5:13 PM

    That cover is gorgeous. It is always interesting to see how somebody retells a classic.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sugar and SnarkNovember 12, 2010 at 12:41 AM

    Great choice! Thanks for introducing me to it :)

    ReplyDelete

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