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Dance Night
It is sometime after the turn of the century in Lamptown, Ohio, a working-class town filled with factory girls. Every Thursday night at the Casino Dance Hall above Bauer's Chop House and across the street from Elsinore Abbott's Bon Ton Hat Shop and Bill Delaney's Saloon and Billiard Parlor, women and a few men gather to escape their pedestrian lives in fantasy, and sometimes to live out these fantasies. Observing all are the novel's two young protagonists, Morry, who dreams of becoming an architect and developer, and Jen, an unsentimental orphan of fourteen who, abandoned by her mother, dreams of escape.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
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565 people want to read
About the author
Dawn Powell
45 books339 followersDawn Powell was an American writer of satirical novels and stories that manage to be barbed and sensitive at the same time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 10, 2008
I'll admit I originally read this book because it was mentioned on Gilmore Girls and am under the delusion that if I keep reading books mentioned on the show it will be able to live on for eternity. I now plan on reading all of Dawn Powell's works. She's not very well known but should be. This book takes place at the turn of the century and is filled with beautifully complex characters and a vivid picture of American in this era. Powell was able to capture the mixture of emotions, desires and failures of each of her characters while keeping them interesting and identifiable. She really captured true yearning. Every character was yearning for something more and in the end you're left with a desire for more yourself. I highly recommend her writing to any with a love of true literature.
March 13, 2023
Coming Of Age In Lamptown
Dawn Powell (1897-1965) received little attention in her lifetime, but her novels are now in print and accessible due to the critical efforts of Gore Vidal and Tim Page, among others. She is an "autobigraphical" writer, and her novels fall into two groups: 1. the earlier "Ohio" novels which are based on Powell's childhood and adolescence in small-town Ohio in the early 20th Century and 2. the later "New York novels which are heavily satirical and describe Greenwich Village where Powell spent most of her adult life.
Powell wrote "Dance Night" in 1930, and it is an early novel in the "Ohio" group. It describes the fictitous small-town of Lamptown, Ohio in the early 20th century. There are gritty pictures of the local bars and saloons and of the railroad men who frequented them. There a pictures of the factories which were the chief employers of both men and the young women. The book focuses on the life of the working class in Lamptown, with their cramped, limited ambitions and opportunities, their rickety homes, and their sexual repressions and liasions. (Books such as this remind me of George Gissing, a Victorian novelist who remains too little known, and who depicted somewhat similar scenes and people in London.)
The two primary characters in the novel are Morry Abott a young man on the verge of adulthood and Jen St. Clair, a young girl just beginning adolescence who has been adopted from an orphanage. The book is how they come of age, sexually and emotionally, and how they attempt in their own ways (including their frustrated relationship with each other) to leave Lamptown. Morry, in particular, seems based upon Powell herself (she generally uses male protagonists in her books that I have read) and the frustrations she experienced in the rural midwest and her dream of a life of glamor, freedom, and adventure (sexual and otherwise) in New York.
In the novel, Morry lives with his mother who runs a small woman's hat shop, the Bon Ton. The father is a travelling salesman and mostly absent. When he is present, things are very ugly.
The title "Dance Night" derives from the chief social activity in Lamptown, the Thursday evening dances. Morry, his mother, and the young factory girls of Lamptown frequent the dances to flirt, dance, and arrange dates and sexual encounters.
There is a great deal of emphasis in the book on furtive, repressed sexual encounters between the young men and women of Lamptown. There is always a hope of escape -- then and now -- based primarily on the dream of sexual liberation. The book is also a story of economic change and ambition at the time of the beginning of the Depressions. The book shows the passing of chance and the attempt to make a quick dollar without thought or training.
The story is really within the American tradition of the coming of age novel -- of the young man finding himself. The book gives a memorable picture of Lamptown. But it leaves its main character Morry as he departs Lamptown in search of broader horizons and an uncertain future. This is an excellent, little-known American novel.
Robin Friedman
Dawn Powell (1897-1965) received little attention in her lifetime, but her novels are now in print and accessible due to the critical efforts of Gore Vidal and Tim Page, among others. She is an "autobigraphical" writer, and her novels fall into two groups: 1. the earlier "Ohio" novels which are based on Powell's childhood and adolescence in small-town Ohio in the early 20th Century and 2. the later "New York novels which are heavily satirical and describe Greenwich Village where Powell spent most of her adult life.
Powell wrote "Dance Night" in 1930, and it is an early novel in the "Ohio" group. It describes the fictitous small-town of Lamptown, Ohio in the early 20th century. There are gritty pictures of the local bars and saloons and of the railroad men who frequented them. There a pictures of the factories which were the chief employers of both men and the young women. The book focuses on the life of the working class in Lamptown, with their cramped, limited ambitions and opportunities, their rickety homes, and their sexual repressions and liasions. (Books such as this remind me of George Gissing, a Victorian novelist who remains too little known, and who depicted somewhat similar scenes and people in London.)
The two primary characters in the novel are Morry Abott a young man on the verge of adulthood and Jen St. Clair, a young girl just beginning adolescence who has been adopted from an orphanage. The book is how they come of age, sexually and emotionally, and how they attempt in their own ways (including their frustrated relationship with each other) to leave Lamptown. Morry, in particular, seems based upon Powell herself (she generally uses male protagonists in her books that I have read) and the frustrations she experienced in the rural midwest and her dream of a life of glamor, freedom, and adventure (sexual and otherwise) in New York.
In the novel, Morry lives with his mother who runs a small woman's hat shop, the Bon Ton. The father is a travelling salesman and mostly absent. When he is present, things are very ugly.
The title "Dance Night" derives from the chief social activity in Lamptown, the Thursday evening dances. Morry, his mother, and the young factory girls of Lamptown frequent the dances to flirt, dance, and arrange dates and sexual encounters.
There is a great deal of emphasis in the book on furtive, repressed sexual encounters between the young men and women of Lamptown. There is always a hope of escape -- then and now -- based primarily on the dream of sexual liberation. The book is also a story of economic change and ambition at the time of the beginning of the Depressions. The book shows the passing of chance and the attempt to make a quick dollar without thought or training.
The story is really within the American tradition of the coming of age novel -- of the young man finding himself. The book gives a memorable picture of Lamptown. But it leaves its main character Morry as he departs Lamptown in search of broader horizons and an uncertain future. This is an excellent, little-known American novel.
Robin Friedman
June 25, 2023
I didn’t want to finish this book. Dawn Powell made the factory hamlet, Lamptown, come alive as each character dusted off their workaday lives to revel in the central social event, the dance night. Even now that I’m finished, I can hear the train passing, the work whistle blowing and the dusk settling over a lush field of clover.
The book was published in 1930, but the characters felt accessible nearly 100 years later. It turns out people have been living their fantasies through the eyes of others for longer than you may think. The proof? Much of the writing could pass for Taylor Swift lyrics.
“[…] romance was between a man and love, not between a man and woman …”
“[…] the thought of Morry was so big, so all-enveloping that there was no wish or feeling to it, it was only a great name, you said ‘Morry’ and it covered every tiny thought or wish, it loomed out of the blackness like a great engine searchlight straight in your eyes, blinding you to everything else, even to itself. Morry, Morry, Morry—you could put yourself to sleep just saying it over and over.”
The book was published in 1930, but the characters felt accessible nearly 100 years later. It turns out people have been living their fantasies through the eyes of others for longer than you may think. The proof? Much of the writing could pass for Taylor Swift lyrics.
“[…] romance was between a man and love, not between a man and woman …”
“[…] the thought of Morry was so big, so all-enveloping that there was no wish or feeling to it, it was only a great name, you said ‘Morry’ and it covered every tiny thought or wish, it loomed out of the blackness like a great engine searchlight straight in your eyes, blinding you to everything else, even to itself. Morry, Morry, Morry—you could put yourself to sleep just saying it over and over.”
July 13, 2014
What a brilliant book!
Dawn Powell's novel of stifled lives in 1930's Ohio is set in the same hopeless ugly small railroad towns that Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis wrote about. Her characters are naive, romantic, and deluded, nearly obsessed with future glory in a larger shop or a grander city down the line, but they are never ridiculous. Powell takes them and their dreams seriously, even as she shows how fragile some dreams are.
Her style is the great revelation — character, setting, and emotion are quickly and beautifully drawn and then nailed firmly to the page in a single sentence. Point of view changes often, stewing her characters in the same sour broth of yearning, bitter resignation, fury, and above all loneliness.
There's hope, though. Characters are connected but not identical. Several women (women and girls get most of Powell's sympathy) do achieve financial success and some real control in their lives, but not without cost.
Dance Night is kept from the depths of despair by characters' small victories, and also by Powell's tone, which can move convincingly from bitter to sardonic to affectionate. I loved it.
______
Rage swept over her at being young, young and little, as if some evil fairy had put that spell on her. Why must you be locked up in this dreadful cage of childhood for twenty or a hundred years? Nothing in life was possible unless you were old and rich, until then you were only small and futile before your tormentors, desperately waiting for the release that only years could bring.
______
“I’ll never forget one day he called me stupid,” Hulda’s fat moonface became ruddy with sentiment[...] “I was hurt — you know how a young bride is — and then lo and behold! That afternoon a wagon came to the door with a present from Hermann to make it up to me. Two bushels of the finest peaches you ever laid your eyes on. [...]”
“But what could you do with two bushels of peaches?”
“Can them, dear. Hermann always loved preserved peaches. I put cloves in them and English walnuts. I was up till long after midnight putting them up. [...] He was a good husband, always. If he had to go away on a trip he always said, ‘Enjoy yourself, Hulda. Let things go. You can do them all when I get back.’ That’s your good husband, let me tell you, girls.”
______
At the end of the drive was a huge old brick house.... A flagstone terrace sloped into rosebushes and flowerbeds and overgrown grass. An iron deer lifted its antlered head in perpetual fright in the middle of the great shaded lawn, and near the driveway a pair of stone Cupids gazed into a cracked stone fountain bowl and saw that their noses were broken off.
______
“I’m going to clear out of here one of these days,” she grumbled, dumping some powder down her neck, powder that would daintily shower some customer’s soup later on as she bent over.
Dawn Powell's novel of stifled lives in 1930's Ohio is set in the same hopeless ugly small railroad towns that Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis wrote about. Her characters are naive, romantic, and deluded, nearly obsessed with future glory in a larger shop or a grander city down the line, but they are never ridiculous. Powell takes them and their dreams seriously, even as she shows how fragile some dreams are.
Her style is the great revelation — character, setting, and emotion are quickly and beautifully drawn and then nailed firmly to the page in a single sentence. Point of view changes often, stewing her characters in the same sour broth of yearning, bitter resignation, fury, and above all loneliness.
There's hope, though. Characters are connected but not identical. Several women (women and girls get most of Powell's sympathy) do achieve financial success and some real control in their lives, but not without cost.
Dance Night is kept from the depths of despair by characters' small victories, and also by Powell's tone, which can move convincingly from bitter to sardonic to affectionate. I loved it.
______
Rage swept over her at being young, young and little, as if some evil fairy had put that spell on her. Why must you be locked up in this dreadful cage of childhood for twenty or a hundred years? Nothing in life was possible unless you were old and rich, until then you were only small and futile before your tormentors, desperately waiting for the release that only years could bring.
______
“I’ll never forget one day he called me stupid,” Hulda’s fat moonface became ruddy with sentiment[...] “I was hurt — you know how a young bride is — and then lo and behold! That afternoon a wagon came to the door with a present from Hermann to make it up to me. Two bushels of the finest peaches you ever laid your eyes on. [...]”
“But what could you do with two bushels of peaches?”
“Can them, dear. Hermann always loved preserved peaches. I put cloves in them and English walnuts. I was up till long after midnight putting them up. [...] He was a good husband, always. If he had to go away on a trip he always said, ‘Enjoy yourself, Hulda. Let things go. You can do them all when I get back.’ That’s your good husband, let me tell you, girls.”
______
At the end of the drive was a huge old brick house.... A flagstone terrace sloped into rosebushes and flowerbeds and overgrown grass. An iron deer lifted its antlered head in perpetual fright in the middle of the great shaded lawn, and near the driveway a pair of stone Cupids gazed into a cracked stone fountain bowl and saw that their noses were broken off.
______
“I’m going to clear out of here one of these days,” she grumbled, dumping some powder down her neck, powder that would daintily shower some customer’s soup later on as she bent over.
February 13, 2017
"But Lil had that quality which had struck him from the first in Jen, a quality of not belonging to the place where was at this moment, of belonging to the place for which she was reaching. This mystified and held him."
September 13, 2021
Showed the underside of two guarded characters so well. Really honed in on the 'why' in their stories, and was not afraid to let the reader question the motives of the main characters. A couple surprising events. Was a relaxing read, but I felt so connected to the story line and the setting.
September 11, 2012
Why, oh why, did no one introduce me to Dawn Powell earlier in my academic/reading career? This is her fourth novel, but the first one she felt positively about (considering it her best work from a vantage point late in her life) and it is truly remarkable. The writing is lyrical and beautifully composed, the characters memorable and interesting. The level of complexity of the content defies a brief or easy description; suffice it to say that this novel engaged me on all of my analytical levels. AND Powell creates a thoroughly believable adolescent character (rare even these days in adult fiction, but rarer still in 1930). The ending is ambiguous, which has its good and bad points, but benefits the reader by encouraging reflection and speculation about what will happen finally to her characters. This a truly wonderful novel.
August 5, 2017
This is another of Dawn Powell's Ohio series which are set in rural small towns much as she was raised in. The setting here is a few years prior to World War I and the town is Lamptown where the work is in factories for gas-light fittings and ironworks. The draw for the town is the weekly dance class held at the ballroom above the Bauer Chop House. Powell writes the rural novel with her own history and knowledge as the key to making this story feel so natural and alive. She doesn't shy way from truths or despairs and the characters own flaws. Another writer who needs to be read more.
July 15, 2010
Loved it!!! Reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but more knowing and more observant.
May 25, 2021
Abandoned on page 183. Dull style, dull characters, typical plot: no reasons to keep reading.
Read
January 11, 2025The book Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin mentioned Dawn Powell as another important woman writer from the 1920s. Even though I grew up reading old books, I'd never heard of her, so I picked up Dance Night. Another reader described it as "scratching beneath the surface of some not very likeable people," which I agree with. But I was also reminded that growing up reading old books is the reason that I rarely DNF books as an adult. Compared to the 2020s where books start with a bang and careen propulsively forward, these old books start slow and may seem to meander only to hit hard with a powerful twist near the end. When I browse used bookstores now, Dawn Powell is going to be one of the authors I look for.
January 31, 2018
This made me nostalgic for my gone mom and dad, because it reminded me of the world their parents and they lived in. The Midwest, in the 1920s, when there were factories, and houses you could buy with the salary you made working a factory job. A small town with a switching yard in the middle of it, with a streetcar that ran out into the country.
Morry and Jenn sat on the stairs and talked about their dreams, what they'd do when they grew up. Morry's mom dreamed of the dancing instructor taking her in his arms, and morry's travelling-salesman Father came home every three months and ruined the peace.
Morry and Jenn sat on the stairs and talked about their dreams, what they'd do when they grew up. Morry's mom dreamed of the dancing instructor taking her in his arms, and morry's travelling-salesman Father came home every three months and ruined the peace.
March 15, 2019
“Boy, you might as well make up your mind now as later that people don’t want anything pretty, and damned if they want anything useful, they just want what other people have.”
I’ll tell you what Lamptown really needed was a dang therapist! An abundance of cynicism without a well adjusted individual to be seen.
I enjoyed the book overall. The ending kinda felt forced, but I was engrossed in the story. A couple moments are incredibly dark and just happen abruptly, which almost adds to the allure of the setting. An easy read with flashes of brilliance, but mainly just an interesting set of characters in a town with a life of its own.
I’ll tell you what Lamptown really needed was a dang therapist! An abundance of cynicism without a well adjusted individual to be seen.
I enjoyed the book overall. The ending kinda felt forced, but I was engrossed in the story. A couple moments are incredibly dark and just happen abruptly, which almost adds to the allure of the setting. An easy read with flashes of brilliance, but mainly just an interesting set of characters in a town with a life of its own.
June 13, 2019
This is an American coming of age novel set during the Depression Era. It explains how hard people worked to make a living and the dreams they had to live better.
The memorable establishments called the Bon Ton Hat Shop, Bauer’s Chop Shop and Delaney’s Saloon and Billiard Parlor are true to the era and the characters are well-rounded and very human.
Dawn Powell had 13 books published in her lifetime and she considered Dance Night, published in 1930, to be her best work.
I have to agree that this book is memorable and it leaves me with a sense of longing to read more of Dawn Powell’s books.
The memorable establishments called the Bon Ton Hat Shop, Bauer’s Chop Shop and Delaney’s Saloon and Billiard Parlor are true to the era and the characters are well-rounded and very human.
Dawn Powell had 13 books published in her lifetime and she considered Dance Night, published in 1930, to be her best work.
I have to agree that this book is memorable and it leaves me with a sense of longing to read more of Dawn Powell’s books.
June 15, 2023
This book was highly recommended as a historical novel written in 1930 about small town America pre WWI. Not what I expected. Although it received great acclaim for its time, it did nothing for me except reinforce my disgust that this was the mentality that ran off the Indians. If the ending were great, it would be a different story (quite literally). However, I read every word for the first half, then jumped to the end and found it all the same: frustrated, undereducated, uptight, rules oriented, exclusion on every social level, power dominance, etc.
April 20, 2019
"She thought Bill might be following her to bring her back, indeed she was so sure that she didn't even turn around for fear of being disappointed."
Even in her first novel, Powell shows remarkable finesse. She does head-hop, but this was hardly noticeable, and only annoying when she has Morry think things like, "This confused image was lovely to think about."
Even in her first novel, Powell shows remarkable finesse. She does head-hop, but this was hardly noticeable, and only annoying when she has Morry think things like, "This confused image was lovely to think about."
July 25, 2025
I really did not care for this book. The main character was an unsympathetic ladies man who mistreats a number of local women and tried to make a name for himself in realty. The town itself was a drab, insular place called Lamptown. Ohio which was dominated by a factory and not very interesting just like the book. The portraits of all the working class folks found little redeeming qualities and the narrative was boring. A real disappointment.
June 25, 2023
My favorite Dawn Powell so far. A nuanced, bittersweet portrait of a small town in the midst of rapid change and a handful of its restless, dissatisfied inhabitants. Not as funny and energetic as Golden Spur or Wicked Pavilion (in fact it can be quite dour and harrowing) but still quite witty.
October 4, 2023
Had to read for a college American lit class, I think it's the worst book I've ever read. One star only because the author seems cool and the imagery and setting was very well written. All of the characters are sooo dull and nothing happens plot-wise the entire book. Good riddance.
September 20, 2022
Good character study in a town that wants to be something but often lacks what it takes to get there.
July 22, 2024
Jen honey please get as far away from Morry as possible
Elsinore was pretty fascinating
Elsinore was pretty fascinating
June 19, 2021
I read this about 25 years earlier, when Powell had a resurgence. Based on the fact that I liked the biography by Tim Page and that she came from my part of Ohio, I bought a whole set that I have meant to read. This one plus I think the Bride's House, I read at the time.
It is maybe too close to home. A bit gloomy, dreaming to get out of small town Ohio and make something of oneself, but not having had experience to know what. Dreams but no goal. Drumming up the courage to just take off with the faith that just leaving will make things OK in the new place.
I will have to read her later books set in New York, to see if that is how it works.
In this book the characters are well defined and the whole thing moves with truth. No bumps to navigate. It tells a story of that part of America in that time, quite well.
It is maybe too close to home. A bit gloomy, dreaming to get out of small town Ohio and make something of oneself, but not having had experience to know what. Dreams but no goal. Drumming up the courage to just take off with the faith that just leaving will make things OK in the new place.
I will have to read her later books set in New York, to see if that is how it works.
In this book the characters are well defined and the whole thing moves with truth. No bumps to navigate. It tells a story of that part of America in that time, quite well.
December 21, 2021
Dance Night
: ¡4,25 estrellas!
Dance Night es una novela corta, sin capítulos, profunda y brillante.
La historia transcurre en Lamptown, un pequeño pueblo de Ohio, Estados Unidos, y en pleno cambio de siglo. En este lugar, donde todos se conocen y las cosas parecen casi predecibles, comienza a respirarse ese aire de querer cambiar, de tener mayores ambiciones que ser un trabajador ferroviario, trabajar en la fábrica, vender sombreros en una tienda, ser una criada o ser moza en un bar para toda la vida. Cada uno de los personajes sabe que desea y puede ser algo más en su vida, y que sus sueños pueden hacerse realidad, pero no son enteramente conscientes de ello. Porque el motivo principal de la trama es escapar, y el evento que mejor representa eso para ellos es el baile de los jueves por la noche dirigido por Mr. Fischer; esa es su forma de huir, aunque sea por unas horas.
Si bien este dilema es común para todos, se hace un particular énfasis en Morry Abbott, un joven de veinte años, que quiere convertirse en arquitecto para construir grandes casas; y en Jenny St. Claire, una joven de dieciséis años, que lo único que quiere es rescatar a su hermana menor del orfanato y ser bailarina o actriz. Ambos jóvenes descubren la comprensión y admiración que son el uno para el otro, y se producen escenas muy tiernas. Deben lidiar con la opinión de los mayores que los rodean, incluso de su familia, que acostumbrados a una realidad predeterminada, subestiman sus capacidades. La pregunta a responder es si abandonar Lamptown es la solución y si pueden hacerlo por sí solos. A su vez, todo se halla magnificado y lleno de orgullo, pues no deja de ser etapas de la adolescencia las que deben atravesar.
.
Dance Night es una historia magnífica, donde la verdadera trama la escriben los personajes, y la autora los describe de forma perfecta. Sus diálogos auténticos, y más aún sus pensamientos, convierten a esta obra de Dawn Powell en una novela psicológica y un fiel reflejo de dicha época en Estados Unidos.
Recomendable.
Dance Night es una novela corta, sin capítulos, profunda y brillante.
La historia transcurre en Lamptown, un pequeño pueblo de Ohio, Estados Unidos, y en pleno cambio de siglo. En este lugar, donde todos se conocen y las cosas parecen casi predecibles, comienza a respirarse ese aire de querer cambiar, de tener mayores ambiciones que ser un trabajador ferroviario, trabajar en la fábrica, vender sombreros en una tienda, ser una criada o ser moza en un bar para toda la vida. Cada uno de los personajes sabe que desea y puede ser algo más en su vida, y que sus sueños pueden hacerse realidad, pero no son enteramente conscientes de ello. Porque el motivo principal de la trama es escapar, y el evento que mejor representa eso para ellos es el baile de los jueves por la noche dirigido por Mr. Fischer; esa es su forma de huir, aunque sea por unas horas.
Si bien este dilema es común para todos, se hace un particular énfasis en Morry Abbott, un joven de veinte años, que quiere convertirse en arquitecto para construir grandes casas; y en Jenny St. Claire, una joven de dieciséis años, que lo único que quiere es rescatar a su hermana menor del orfanato y ser bailarina o actriz. Ambos jóvenes descubren la comprensión y admiración que son el uno para el otro, y se producen escenas muy tiernas. Deben lidiar con la opinión de los mayores que los rodean, incluso de su familia, que acostumbrados a una realidad predeterminada, subestiman sus capacidades. La pregunta a responder es si abandonar Lamptown es la solución y si pueden hacerlo por sí solos. A su vez, todo se halla magnificado y lleno de orgullo, pues no deja de ser etapas de la adolescencia las que deben atravesar.
.
Dance Night es una historia magnífica, donde la verdadera trama la escriben los personajes, y la autora los describe de forma perfecta. Sus diálogos auténticos, y más aún sus pensamientos, convierten a esta obra de Dawn Powell en una novela psicológica y un fiel reflejo de dicha época en Estados Unidos.
Recomendable.
January 1, 2017
Dawn Powell is charting some of the psychic material that led to her departure from small-town origins to New York City, especially in the character of the young, feisty orphan Jan. It's not an easy course, and in the 5 or 6 years that transpire in this novel, she follows the lives of three principal characters, all of them seeking more of life than what their small town offers.
The period which Powell describes 1925 - 1930, is an especially fecund period in America's development from agrarian to an urban society, and Powell's portrayal of these three characters illustrates their limitations. Dreams and aspirations are both seductive and illusory motivations for a bigger, better life, especially when their actual knowledge of what lies over the horizon is so limited.
Powell successfully ventriloquizes inner voices for these characters that are poignant and naive. There is some irony, but Powell's sympathies are with her characters, and she does not belittle them or the vagueness of their dreams.
That anyone is able to escape is the real wonder, yet the novel suggests that as with many historical forces, this was one that compelled millions along paths—like ants finding a drop of sugar water—that led to large urban areas without any conscious idea about what they might do once there.
The period which Powell describes 1925 - 1930, is an especially fecund period in America's development from agrarian to an urban society, and Powell's portrayal of these three characters illustrates their limitations. Dreams and aspirations are both seductive and illusory motivations for a bigger, better life, especially when their actual knowledge of what lies over the horizon is so limited.
Powell successfully ventriloquizes inner voices for these characters that are poignant and naive. There is some irony, but Powell's sympathies are with her characters, and she does not belittle them or the vagueness of their dreams.
That anyone is able to escape is the real wonder, yet the novel suggests that as with many historical forces, this was one that compelled millions along paths—like ants finding a drop of sugar water—that led to large urban areas without any conscious idea about what they might do once there.
September 17, 2009
Dawn Powell wrote a sharp and lively description of small town America, remarkable for its lack of cliché. Particularly, the shamelessness and hypocrisy brought on by isolation and limited opportunity rang true. Even a murder is almost comically downplayed by the townspeople, who would rather sympathize and protect their own than discuss a sordid reality. Lamptown, site of a factory employing nine hundred women, is an exercise in situational feminism. The hero of the story, passing through those golden years of eighteen to twenty, is a lad glutted on estrogen, escaping to his room or his books. As a feminist text, the book is still provocative, suggesting the superficiality of engendered morals, and making a mockery of romance and virtue. For a woman born in the last century, Dawn Powell had clear view.
December 13, 2016
Dawn Powell is a highly accomplished novelist who wrote a string of excellent novels in the 1930's and 1940's. Her work is not as well known as it should be. I have read several other novels by her and this is one of her earlier works. The book is set in a small Ohio manufacturing town before World War I. Powell wrote the novel in the 1930's and in someways it is almost old fashioned but the problems her characters encounter and their subtle interactions with each other are strikingly contemporary. I would recommend that you start with a Powell novel set in New York City like Turn Magic Wheel but try anything by Powell
October 30, 2015
FIRST LINE REVIEW: "What Morry heard above the Lamptown night noises was a woman's high voice rocking on mandolin notes far far away." And that's where Morry spends the next 200 pages trying to get...far far away, but somehow, without leaving Lamptown. This is a claustrophobic book that digs under the skin of odd and not terribly likable characters. Consequently, while I was curious to see where Powell was taking us, I was never really satisfied with where we ended up. Kinda like the characters in this slim, early novel from the 1930's.
August 4, 2025
I’ve read 7 Powell novels now, and this is one of the only two that didn’t blow me away (the other is TURN, MAGIC WHEEL). Maybe it was the narrower cast of characters, or their younger age than her typical protagonists. I’d recommend her two other Ohio (non New York) novels, My Home Is Far Away and Come Back to Sorrento first—both are 5 stars for me.
The writing is still great as Powell always is; I just wasn’t compelled as I usually am with her books. Oddly, this was one of her bigger hits I think at the time.
The writing is still great as Powell always is; I just wasn’t compelled as I usually am with her books. Oddly, this was one of her bigger hits I think at the time.
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June 12, 2013Dawn Powell? Most have never heard of her. I never did until I happened upon this amazing portrayal of small-town American life in the early 1900s. The characters were as real as if I were there in the room with them. I could feel what they were thinking and going through in their minds. The situations are painted so clearly I could imagine the emotional impact. When I finished, I couldn’t believe that it took me so long to come across this work.
July 23, 2014
Dance Night is a well-written novel, set in the Depression, in a dingy, Ohio factory town with little to offer residents in fun, housing, or aspiring careers. I’ve loved many depressing, even heart-wrenching books, so I’m not sure why Dance Night didn’t really click for me. I usually love coming of age stories, too, but suppose what I usually regard as the hopefulness of youth felt more like false bravado in this case. I didn’t believe the young people were going to escape.
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