Night-blooming Cereus

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Each story in Night-Blooming Cereus is set in a different place and time, yet they all deal with the same underlying theme: how the imagination, in its infinite variety, seeks to transcend external events.A small Jewish boy's life during the Nazi era grows rich with the sounds and sights of the Arabian Desert when he finds an aged copy of Travels in Arabia Deserta in an Amsterdam cellar. An effete and scholarly collector begins to imitate Van Gogh, the painter he worships. An old woman's life is shaped by remembrance as she lies in her hospital bed and recounts a voyage through the Greek Islands during World War II. A reporter remembers his part in a college rape as he interviews a Serbian general being held for war crimes in a Dutch prison. A housekeeper embroiders her deepest yearnings into the laundry of the residents of a roominghouse.K. A. Longstreet's stories are appealing and varied. This collection is unusual in many ways, not the least of which is its breadth. Each story exhibits a dexterous use of detail, often historically based, in providing a landscape for the characters' experiences and musings.