Lily Dahl is a heroine of the old school: tough, beautiful and brave. A nineteen-year-old waitress and aspiring actress living in Webster, Minnesota, she becomes enchanted by an exotic outsider - an artist from New York. Drawn into a world of erotic adventure, she finds herself the target of mysterious acts of madness as she strains against the confines of small town life.
The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
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'Compelling...Webster's hot-house atmosphere and collection of oddballs and freaks are brilliantly evoked...She orchestrates suspense masterfully and her writing has a quality of stillness, of effortless deliberation, which is peculiarly suited to the sense of foreboding.' (Literary Review )
'Full of humour, surprise and powerful images...Hustvedt's real triumph, though, is to take the ordinary and make it strange while showing how all strangeness is rooted in the ordinary.' (Observer )
'Told with the gripping pace of a straightforward mystery tale...A natural born storyteller' (Independent )
'A taut and convincing drama, as well as an intriguing metaphysical thriller' (Sunday Times )
'Subtle, complex and engaging' (Financial Times )
'Hustvedt's powerful theme of small-town mentality shows how intimacy and claustrophobia, secrets and skeletons, come out of the same closet...[an] exploration of the narrow line between imagination and reality while still managing to be a rip-roaring adventure story...beautifully written' (Scotsman )
'A startlingly good novel, tautly written and very sexy.' (Marie Claire )
'Full of humour, surprise and powerful images...Hustvedt's real triumph, though, is to take the ordinary and make it strange while showing how all strangeness is rooted in the ordinary.' (Observer )
'Told with the gripping pace of a straightforward mystery tale...A natural born storyteller' (Independent )
'A taut and convincing drama, as well as an intriguing metaphysical thriller' (Sunday Times )
'Subtle, complex and engaging' (Financial Times )
'Hustvedt's powerful theme of small-town mentality shows how intimacy and claustrophobia, secrets and skeletons, come out of the same closet...[an] exploration of the narrow line between imagination and reality while still managing to be a rip-roaring adventure story...beautifully written' (Scotsman )
'A startlingly good novel, tautly written and very sexy.' (Marie Claire )
About the Author
Siri Hustvedt's first novel, THE BLINDFOLD, was published by Sceptre in 1993 and her second, THE ENCHANTMENT OF LILY DAHL, followed in 1997. Her third novel, WHAT I LOVED, was published in 2003 to great acclaim and has been an international bestseller. Her most recent novel, THE SORROWS OF AN AMERICAN, was published in 2008. She is also the author of Reading to You, a poetry collection, three collections of essays, Yonder, Mysteries of the Rectangle: Essays on Painting, and A PLEA FOR EROS. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband Paul Auster.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Jules M.
Format:Paperback
This is an absolutely wonderful novel. It is as gripping as a thriller, but so beautifully written that the words flow from the page like silk. Siri Hustvedt builds an atmosphere of dreamlike strangeness in describing the small town of Webster and the misfits who inhabit the world of Lily Dahl. The novel is suffused with the mystery of things half-seen or overheard.
The author elicits tremendous sympathy for her characters, no matter how repugnant they may initially seem. The character of Martin, especially, is brilliantly drawn. Lily herself is outwardly strong and confident, yet inwardly fragile and uncertain. Her desire for the man across the street begins the story, and her voyeurism is echoed throughout the book.
The novel has a real darkness at its heart, with recurring themes of loneliness and obsession. Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is quoted several times, adding to the mystical atmosphere, but this is definitely a Grimm's fairytale!
I absolutely loved this book. It combines wonderful writing with a great plot and fascinating characters. I almost envy you if you haven't yet read it. I'm planning to read her other two novels as soon as possible.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is not Siri Hustvedt's best works, and unlike her other books its really mostly based on the events of the story and not the way she tells it in other words the emphasis is NOT on how she elaborate the thoughts and emotions going within the characters.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Lou Ice
Format:Paperback
I love it! It has a mystical element, but it can be explained, it doesn't flip and become unbelievable. It's a beautiful timeless story and has references to the icons Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. We never find out what time the story is set in, but it's clear that Elvis and Marilyn are dead.
Lily Dahl lives in a small town in the middle of America, works in a café and is doing a bit of acting. She falls in love with an older visiting artist, who lives in the hotel opposite her room. He falls in love with her too, and he's not the only one. One of the café guests, Martin, whom Lily played with when she was little, seems almost obsessed with her. Lily thinks that he hides something and is determined to find out what. She confides in her older neighbour, Mabel, who also helps her with rehearsing the lines for the play she's in. (Martin is in the play as well and it makes you think about what's real and what's just an act.)
Hustvedt creates a very eerie, fairy tale like atmosphere and yet manages to keep it very real. Lily is strong-minded character who wants to find the truth no matter what. The small town life with its odd characters, like the Bodley Brothers, is well portrayed.
Lily Dahl lives in a small town in the middle of America, works in a café and is doing a bit of acting. She falls in love with an older visiting artist, who lives in the hotel opposite her room. He falls in love with her too, and he's not the only one. One of the café guests, Martin, whom Lily played with when she was little, seems almost obsessed with her. Lily thinks that he hides something and is determined to find out what. She confides in her older neighbour, Mabel, who also helps her with rehearsing the lines for the play she's in. (Martin is in the play as well and it makes you think about what's real and what's just an act.)
Hustvedt creates a very eerie, fairy tale like atmosphere and yet manages to keep it very real. Lily is strong-minded character who wants to find the truth no matter what. The small town life with its odd characters, like the Bodley Brothers, is well portrayed.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Menace and Romance of Small Town Life
I found this novel very different to the other two Siri Hustvedts that I have read, both in terms of plot and in terms of setting - instead of her preferred cast of New York... Read more
Published 16 days ago by Kate Hopkins
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book that inspires thought.
I read 'The Summer without Men' first, It was amazing.
I read this before 'The Blindfold'
Totally out of order. Read more
I read this before 'The Blindfold'
Totally out of order. Read more
Published 6 months ago by E. M. Stansbridge
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dull
I couldn't get to the end of this book - and I seldom give up on books. The characters were all so wishy-washy and predictable I really couldn't care less. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2007 by Sebastian Murray
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting the Reader
Like 'The Blindfold' a self consciously post-modern novel filled with empty signs and cultural observation. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2002 by Eric Anderson
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