A Thousand And One Nights

by Lara Tupper

Twenty-two-year-old Karla is thrilled to be hired as an entertainer on the Sound of Music cruise ship—where the rum punch is 80 percent Kool-Aid, the ice sculp- tures are plastic, and her "fake it till you make it" M.O. seems adventuresome. Karla is less thrilled when her new boyfriend, Jack, suggests that they form a singing duo on land, but by now faking enthusiasm has become a way of life. She and Jack buy backing tracks, crib lyrics from the radio, and embark on a not-as-glamorous-as-it-should-be career performing in the luxury hotel bars of the Middle East and China. But after a thousand and one nights on the road, Karla and Jack find themselves struggling to keep their act—both personal and professional—together.  Funny, fast-paced, and incisive, A Thousand and One Nights captures the performances, large and small, we use to make it through life.

226 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2007

About the author

Lara Tupper is the author of three books: Amphibians, a short story collection (Leapfrog Press; winner, Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize), Off Island, an historical fiction about the travels of Paul Gauguin (Encircle), and A Thousand and One Nights, an autobiographical novel about singers at sea (Harcourt and Untreed Reads). She taught creative writing for many years at Rutgers University and now presents workshops in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. She is also a jazz/folk performer who has traveled the world; her latest album is This Dance.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it but i admit i may be a little biased. i know/knew the parents of this talented writer and i enjoy her occasional references to places i recognize in maine. but i do think it's a good, smart, interesting book and well-written.

[Kourtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

The praise indicated this book was witty, often funny, and a terrific story to tell. I'm not sure what books those critics were reading because it sure wasn't this one. Pass on this and read something else instead.

[Culture-Vulture · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 4-year slice of someone's life: a relationship that winds down to nothing, with adventures and misadventures along the way, and a LOT of drinking.

It read like a soulless diary, written after the fact and for no discernable purpose. Maybe it was the author's way of exorcising her own past. Who knows?! But what I do know is that it's not much of a plot. It's well written, but what was the point?! What was the soul of the novel? Why was it written? What's it trying to tell us? I have no answers to the above questions.

Other issues: The supporting characters all start blending into each other, they are all so alike! There was no excitement for all the new places visited, the new people they met. The author tells you nothing of her internal feelings about the relationship with her boyfriend. It's all a bland mess.

Maybe the message is that no matter how many adventures you have, how and who you love along the way, at the end of it all, it's all pointless anyway. Maybe the novel is just one huge existential crisis.

I have no idea what else to say or feel about this novel. It was an odd duck. But a well-written/edited odd duck, hence the 3 stars.

[Laurel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this was THE most boring book I ever read. The blurb seemed so promising. But seriously. Nothing happens. There is very little dialogue. Karla has no involvement in or impact on (what should be her very exciting) life around her. She just kind of meanders through the book in little vignettes that have no point. She is miserable but just accepts her life as it is. She has no interest or passion, even in the things she claims to. I didn't find one bit of this tale funny. I kept hoping something was going to happen but the book just drags with no dialogue, no action and no character growth to its ambiguous conclusion.

[Neesi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lara Tupper invites us into the life aboard a cruise ship, and a relationship that drags on yeeeaaarrrs after it should have ended. It's relatable enough. Tupper is also a writing coach, she makes writing easy for beginners.

[Mikaela Pacheco]

Well what can i say. I bought this book and thought it would entertain me but it didn't. It was not that fun to read. I was not able to finish i was like, on the first 20 pages only.