Crawling at Night

by Nani Power

Hailed by The New York Times as a "formidable young writer ... one who unpacks her characters' emotions with a firm, graceful hand," Nani Power garnered impressive acclaim for her profound debut last year. A darkly lyrical, charged exploration of the double-edged sword of urban anonymity, her novel was deemed "daring" and "one-of-a-kind" by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Crawling at Night is a searing, unforgettable portrait of New York City and of the appetites and self-sabotaging patterns of its displaced inhabitants. Ito is a literate yet tongue-tied sushi chef who recites haiku in his head as he labors over shopping lists, which at once define and confine him. Alone, he dreams of Mariane, a lost alcoholic waitress who works with him at the Chelsea sushi bar. Ito can't help but live part of every waking day reliving the tragedy he left behind in Japan, and across town Mariane yearns for the baby girl she abandoned almost fifteen years before. In the spinning haze of two nights in Manhattan, Ito and Mariane find themselves careening on a downward spiral through the dark streets of the city. As they navigate a sea of alcohol, sex, and exotic food, we are taken inside the minds of other scarred people they encounter, whose paths, like the streets of the city itself, crisscross and overlap, skimming one another for some sort of connection. Crawling at Night is a dazzling evocation of the way people draw each other in to absorb the shock of loneliness, and how they then either drift out of orbit or are pushed away. With heartbreaking intimacy, Power shows that the dark side of the city and its struggling inhabitants is but an extension of the purest longings and intentions of those very same, very human people. "... profound and thrilling ... Crawling at Night will not only be a sensation of the season, it will also endure." -- Robert Olen Butler "A formidable young writer ... one who can put you in mind of both Mary Gaitskill and Denis Johnson." -- Dwight Garner, the New York Times Book Review "... an effective exploration of the lies we tell ourselves to help us handle the business of living." -- Jabari Asim, Washington Post Book World "[Power] has an astonishing talent ... deeply affecting...." -- Bookforum

Genres: Food, Contemporary

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2001

About the author

Nani Power is the author of the novels Crawling at Night, The Good Remains, and The Sea of Tears, the first two of which were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

She lives in The Plains, Virginia.

Reviews

[Neil Mattey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debut book and what a fantastically interesting writing style. Certain descriptive elements were completely obscure and grabbed my attention.

[icy · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful picture painted and beautiful writing. my only criticism is the excessive comma use. Holy run on sentence! it does not take away from the story, does not diminish the writing and i love commas too but this seems out of control. there’s at-least 1 hundred on every page and some paragraphs are literally just commas. i had to share because it was really bothering me. once you notice you can’t unnotice so hopefully you’re reading this review after you’ve finished the book!

[Fiona Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book, weaves from one character to the next with ease. Deals with addiction realistically and with respect, as well as issues of racial perception.

Fave quotes:
P5 jaundiced afternoon light
P5 Speaking, it's the staccato chunks if a toddler. Hello, good-bye, yes, thank you, please, oh, good.
P8 He also was up at 3am and was surprised by his old wife of forty years, who woke him up naked, with her bony elbow.
P8 they were both grateful that everything worked and that she had gotten through some of her sadness, the sadness she felt like a blanket over her most days,
P32 In this country, one wears loneliness like a coat.
P108 You give yourself to men for money, is it true?
You work for money?
Yes.
I work for money, too.
P134 he pulls an invisible draw-string that people do to buck up. He pulls it tight. His mouth is a slash. His eyes dry.

[Eunice Ying Ci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nani Power's Crawling at Night feels like the antithesis to J. Ryan Stradal's Kitchens of the Great Midwest. And while the portraits of Asian characters feel like caricatures at times, there is a purposiveness to these depictions - a sort of foolish bravado and defiance. Sometimes it pays to be what people expect you to be. At least it leaves them feeling vindicated. For a novel that painstakingly devotes effort to draw attention to the meaning of 'Nani' in Japanese, Power ultimately demands to know WHAT POWER on the cover, and Crawling at Night is full of overlooked provocations of this kind.

[Terra Masias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful prose and descriptions in the book - almost too much. However, very dark and depressing with some dislike for the characters. But as addiction is known the characters have moral failings because if it.

[Mei Yee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a ‘my type’ kinda book. A story about lonely, displaced, messed up people finding solace and hope in one another. Also loved the ambiguous ending - a much more realistic depiction of what often happens in real life.

[Theo Kaubisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this book. It was very uncomfortable at parts but it was a pretty intriguing book. I mean i finished it in 10 days so it obviously wasnt boring. I didnt love it but i think i liked it. pretty writing and i like how the chapters are set up i think its cool

[Bonnie Morse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beautifully written, with characters so disgustingly unlikable and a story so thin the author's obvious talent is completely wasted.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Events snowballing to their conclusion

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was veryyyy dark and pretty much a character study. i haven't really read anything like it and found the format to be really cool

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think reading it for so long intermittently made me unfairly attached in a way that isn’t necessarily reflective of the quality

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super Sad True Love Story was great but so depressing. I just don't enjoy books like that. So, I understand why some people are put off by this book. It is dark, but some people will still find beauty in the story.

I should say "stories" because one aspect I liked about the book was that it included the stories of so many people, even if that person was a cab driver in only one scene and we saw only a glimpse of his life. I love that because everyone has a story. I also liked taking a moment out of the present and revisiting someone's past to understand just maybe how he/she ended up where he/she did.

I liked the grit and detail. Within the first two chapters, there's a description of an interaction between a 60-something husband and wife that was so real and raw, I felt like I was eavesdropping and could feel what each was feeling.

No, this is not an uplifting story, but I know there are people out there who will enjoy reading it.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one didn't grab, or even casually brush against my interest. Really slow, right out of the gate. (I looked forward to the grocery lists at the beginning of the chapters.) It's time to let another library patron have a go at it.

[Nena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, creative, and slightly haunting. The characters are so stripped down and raw, I felt like I was peeking into people's homes at night without their knowledge. I would read this again.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really beautiful story -- not quite as good as Power's "The Sea of Tears," but still quite good. Especially fun for us "foodies."

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great addition to urban lit.

[Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

very quick read, sexy and kind of depressing.

[Cali · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like a good, dark book. However, this book was just way too over the top for me. It left me feeling depressed, lonely, and hurting.

[Sara]

02 long list-orange prize

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't even get me started on how much I hated this one. Hated both protagonists and didn't care about anyone else, either.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard to find the rhythm of this book, but it was ultimately interesting. Rather depressing intersecting paths of people whose lives are falling apart.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

it had a very different story, and u loved the way it was written. I didn't really get into the book until about chapter three and then I was hooked

[Abdul · Rating 1 out of 5]

A chore of a book

[Oryx · Rating 2 out of 5]

No words. Absolutely terrible from start to finish.