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The Queen of the Night Paperback – November 1, 2016
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The Queen of the Night tells the captivating story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She became a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role—her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the libretto is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who betrayed her?
With epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details, Alexander Chee shares Lilliet’s cunning transformation from circus rider to courtesan to legendary soprano, retracing the path that led to the role that could secure her reputation—or destroy her with the secrets it reveals.
“It just sounds terrific. It sounds like opera.”—The New Yorker
“Sprawling, soaring, bawdy, and plotted like a fine embroidery.”—NPR
- Print length576 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMariner Books
- Publication dateNovember 1, 2016
- Dimensions5.31 x 1.46 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100544925475
- ISBN-13978-0544925472
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From the Publisher
Edinburgh | How to Write an Autobiographical Novel | Queen of the Night | The Best American Essays 2022 | |
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Customer Reviews |
4.3 out of 5 stars
256
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4.5 out of 5 stars
707
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3.7 out of 5 stars
1,208
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4.5 out of 5 stars
100
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Price | $16.10$16.10 | $12.79$12.79 | $10.19$10.19 | $11.79$11.79 |
Editorial Reviews
Review
National Bestseller New York Times Editor's Choice A Best Book of the Year fromNPR,Esquire, Self, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Portland Mercury, Jezebel, Time Out NY, Buzzfeed, Vox.com, Refinery 29, Electric Literature, LitHub, Entropy, The Morning News, and theFinancial Times An Indie Next Pick One of the Most Anticipated Titles of 2016 by Entertainment Weekly, Wired, Refinery29, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, BBC, Bustle, The Millions, Flavorwire, Book Riot, Brooklyn Magazine, and Bookish. A Guardian Best Book of the Summer "The Queen of the Night joins Tipping the Velvet and The Crimson Petal and the White as the rare historical novel in which the setting may be old, but the writing makes everything feel brand new. Alexander Chee has written a subversive, sexy epic about a young American girl who struggles more than her fans will ever understand on her way to eventually become a highly celebrated soprano at the Paris Opera House. Lillet Berne's dramatic rise to success is all the more exciting because of all the wonderful details Chee includes about her life in the late 19th century. The descriptions of her dresses alone are worth the price of this book, and Chee's knowledge about opera is such that you can almost hear the music when reading his words. But for all the research and historical detail, in the end, it's a love story, as so many of the most excellent books are."--Esquire “The novel is infused with an operatic sensibility…The Queen of the Night is a celebration of these women of creativity, ingenuity, endurance, mastery and grace—a gala in their honor.” —Kelly Gardiner, New York Times “Epic…Brilliantly extravagant in its twists and turns and its wide-ranging cast of character.” —Julia Felsenthal, Vogue “[An] extravagant five-act grand opera of a novel…Chee’s writing is cultured and confident, and the elite society he depicts is dazzling…Readers willing to submit to the spell of this glittering, luxuriantly paced novel will find that it rewards their attention, from its opening mysteries to its satisfying full-circle finale.” —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal "A sweeping, richly detailed historical novel about a young woman's tumultuous trajectory from circus rider to renowned soprano at the Paris Opera." —Kim Hubbard, People “An opera of the page, complete with seduction, hidden identity, betrayal and plenty of costume changes…It’s the ball gowns and roses, magic tricks and ruses, hubris and punishment that will keep the reader absorbed until the final aria.” —Sarah Begley, Time “Gorgeous prose...Extraordinarily beautiful and dramatic, a brilliant performance.” —Wendy Smith, Washington Post “[A] postmodern bodice ripper…It just sounds terrific. It sounds like opera…It offers a rare, intriguing psychology: the heart as a buried place, where someone is hiding, singing—words you can’t quite hear.” —Joan Acocella, The New Yorker "[A] wild opera of a novel…Swift, smart, immersive, and gorgeous." —Garth Greenwell, The Guardian &n —
From the Back Cover
Dazzling. Wall Street Journal - A brilliant performance. Washington Post
Sweeping, richly detailed. People - Masterful. Wired - Spellbinding. BuzzFeed
A wild opera of a novel, * The Queen of the Night tells the mesmerizing story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She became a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the libretto is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who betrayed her? With epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details, ** Alexander Chee shares Lilliet s cunning transformation from circus rider to courtesan to legendary soprano, retracing the path that led to the role that could secure her reputation or destroy her with the secrets it reveals.
If Lilliet Berne were a man, she might have been what nineteenth-century novels would call a swashbuckler: the kind of destiny-courting, death-defying character who finds intrigue and peril (and somehow, always, a fantastic pair of pantaloons) around every corner. Entertainment Weekly
Alexander Chee is the author of two novels and the recipient of a Whiting Award and the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in fiction. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, and on NPR, among others, and he is a contributing editor at the New Republic. He lives in New York City.
* The Guardian
** Hanya Yanagihara"
About the Author
ALEXANDER CHEE is the best-selling author of the novels The Queen of the Night and Edinburgh, and the essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He is a contributing editor at the New Republic, and an editor at large at Virginia Quarterly Review. His work has appeared in The Best American Essays 2016, the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, the New Yorker, T Magazine, Slate, Vulture, among others. He is winner of a 2003 Whiting Award, a 2004 NEA Fellowship in prose and a 2010 MCCA Fellowship, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the VCCA, Civitella Ranieri and Amtrak. He is an associate professor of English at Dartmouth College.
Product details
- Publisher : Mariner Books; Reprint edition (November 1, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 576 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0544925475
- ISBN-13 : 978-0544925472
- Item Weight : 15.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 1.46 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #530,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,159 in Biographical Historical Fiction
- #2,012 in Biographical Fiction (Books)
- #27,020 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
ALEXANDER CHEE won a Whiting Award for his first novel, Edinburgh, and is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, and Civitella Ranieri. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, and NPR, among others, and he is a Contributing Editor at The New Republic. He lives in New York City.
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It started out pretty well, but after a few hundred pages Lilliet, or whatever she was calling herself at that point, wore thin with me. She's so passive and seemingly indecisive that by the end I was shouting at my Kindle "For God's sake just make up your mind!" She lurches through the book doing what people tell her to do, resenting it, making a move, changing her mind, backsliding, trying to decide what she feels... it was like reading the diary of a teenager. Basically Lilliet is a bore as are the people around her. The only truly interesting character in the entire book is a real person, Pauline Viardot, a famous soprano and voice teacher who lived for many years en menage with her husband and Ivan Turgenev. Viardot is vibrant and charming, in this book, and provides some of the best passages.
Other than that, the book is filled with people giving up love for the sake of someone else, descriptions of operas, and really endless descriptions of clothing and jewels. I admit I skimmed the last hundred pages because I simply wanted it to end. I don't really know what else to say about it.
Opinion seems divided on this one, and that's fine. However you feel about a book is how you feel about it, and it's perfectly valid even if everyone else felt differently. The thing is, I wanted to love it, I truly did. And that made my disappointment the greater.
Oh well...
"Queen of the Night" takes places in late 19th-century frontier America and early 20th-century Europe (Paris and a few other cities). It's an operatic story full of plot twists, unbelievable story contrivances, beautiful custom ball gowns, spies, dazzling jewels, as well as handsome and cruel leading men. It's a historical novel that mixes real events within a rich fantasy.
Much of our discussion unpacked some of the historical events, which all seem pretty true (again, remembering that they're interpreted as fantasy), based on real events and characters with Wikipedia pages. It's helpful to know about Napoleon III, the Franco-Prussian war, and the Paris Commune but not essential -- and if you don't know anything, you'll learn a bit. Other parts of our discussion revolved around opera, which once again seemed true. Similarly, it's helpful to know a little about opera plots, opera singers, and the opera "fach" system, but the book gives enough information to keep you informed. You'd better enjoy descriptions of gowns and jewels, which are threaded throughout the novel.
The biggest discussion centered on the language. The novel is very well reviewed and many of us wanted to like but had a hard time. Everyone thought that it needed an editor to cut it down to size. Several readers stopped reading after a few chapters and others after 100 pages. Chee's style is often too verbose. A number of readers thought it was poorly written. Those of us who plowed through were interested in the story and the outcome but I don't think that anybody felt compelled to finish it.
I enjoyed reading "The Queen of the Night," but when I put the book down I had to remind myself "I'd better finish this." I was never compelled to read another chapter or get to the end. I thought some individual scenes and occurrences were spectacular (like arias in an opera) but then followed by pages of drivel (like much of the emotive and silly repetition that drives me crazy in opera). It's sort of the opposite of "a page turner." Having said that, the ending is very satisfying although perhaps (once again) over written.
A few observations:
-- Sometimes the language in the book is so dense that I found it difficult to read very carefully. And the narrator-diva's self-analysis and meditations are often tedious and not helpful in advancing the plot or the character.
-- Chee is a gay author but there's only very minor gay content in the novel (unlike his only previous novel "Edinburgh"). But opera seems "gay" and there's something about this story and diva that seems to give the novel a gay sensibility. Maybe it's all the gowns and jewels.
-- The action in the novel is often romantic, fantastic, and soap-opera-ish, much like opera plots. The plot is episodic. Characters often seem thin or poorly defined, and motivations are often hard to discern. A couple of times I lost track of why something was going on. The psychology of the opera-singer narrator is sometimes hard to understand.
-- One of the problems of the psychology of the narrator might be that she never really knows herself. Her sense of self-preservation is strong but she seems unaware of who she really is. She's often just a diva wearing fabulous gowns and jewels. (Uh huh, I mentioned fabulous gowns and jewels again.)
Top reviews from other countries
And she was correct!
I was captivated from the start and fell in love with the book.
What a fantastic beautifully descriptive well written book.
I feel at a loss now that I've finally finished it.
Lovers of history, will be treated to an unending parade of the excesses and misfortunes of the protagonist among the opulence of the French Second Empire’s rise and fall. If you are a fan of minute details of dresses, shoes, jewellery, decor, mannerisms, history and politics, you'll be in for a treat, though these details often overwhelmed the fantastical plot-for which you must suspend disbelief. The author chose to write in first person perspective, yet the telling lacks any real warmth, rather it smacks of a matter-of-fact recount of a trauma victim, of which the protagonist is a prime example.
Author, Alexander Chee has given us a novel of five hundred and fifty-three pages, set out in five acts, which like one of Verdi's opera's must be endured, for the sake of his art.
Begin this reading journey only if you dare to persevere to the end.