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  • Writer's pictureLafourche Parish Public Library

Catherine's Pick: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern



In Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, the underground sea of the title is home to the Harbor. The Harbor has, in its time, been a place for the creators and preservers of stories and their works. Stories in books, stories in sculptures, stories in the form of mints that enter your mind as they dissolve on your tongue, all are kept in the Harbor. Zachary Ezra Rawlins was born in New Orleans to a fortune-teller mother. When he was young, he almost went through a door painted on an alley wall but told himself he was being silly before he could touch the doorknob. Now he is a grad student of Emerging Media Studies in New England, whiling away time before a new semester starts by browsing the university library. While doing so, he finds a book that, amid vignettes describing a book-centric fantasia, includes a very familiar story about a son of a fortune-teller who finds a painted door but does not go through and so does not find his way to the Starless Sea. At least, as the book says, “Not yet.”


Now, this son of a fortune-teller who has immersed himself in stories will find himself following clues to an adventure of a lifetime.


Morgenstern showed herself to be capable of deftly writing dreams made real in her breakout hit The Night Circus and this novel shows that she is more than capable of repeating the feat. The Sea, as she writes it, feels both impossible and tangible, rife with detail of smell and texture and even taste that could make a person believe it must be out there to truly experience. In the early going, this novel is easy to pick up and put down at the reader’s leisure, as the narrative cuts between vignettes describing the Harbor, its history, functioning, and landmarks, and the narrative following Zachary in sections usually less than ten pages. As the narrative continues, the two blend more and more and the tension rises to the point that I found putting it down to be very difficult indeed.


This is a book about the philosophy of creation told in an atmospheric, mystical tone and compelling, lyrical writing style. Why do we make things and tell stories? When is an act of creation finished? What is to be done with a creation when a work is complete?


If those sound like questions you want to explore, I cannot recommend this book more heartily.


Availability: Book; Large Print Book; Playaway; eBook & eAudiobook in cloudLibrary Rating: ***** Stars (I loved it) Reviewer: Catherine, Cataloging Librarian

 

ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! The Starless Sea


GENRE: Fantasy Fiction; Multiple Perspectives THEMES: Books and Books (These books are saturated with books, storytelling, and writing, celebrating the reading life we all know and love! ); Hidden Among Us (There's a whole world within the world -- under the floorboards, down an alley, maybe deep in the woods. Most humans never know they're there.)

CHARACTER: LGBTQIA Diverse TONE: Atmospheric; Moving; Mystical; Romantic STORYLINE: Unconventional WRITING STYLE: Compelling; Lush; Lyrical; Richly Detailed

SUBJECT: Books; Graduate Students; Imaginary Places; Interpersonal Attraction; Libraries; Magic; Men/Men Relations; Quests; Secret Societies; Storytelling


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