Cereus Blooms at Night
Penguin Modern Classics Edition
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
Cereus Blooms at Night
Narrated by:
Shaquille James-Hosten
Buy Now for £12.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Shaquille James-Hosten
-
By:
-
Shani Mootoo
About this listen
FINALIST FOR THE ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZE
Bold and lyrical, sensual and highly charged, Cereus Blooms at Night is the beautifully written, sensational first novel by Shani Mootoo, one of Canada’s most exciting literary voices.
At the core of this haunting multi-generational novel are the shifting faces of Mala—adventurer and protector, recluse, and madwoman. Told by the engaging voice of Tyler, Mala’s vivacious male caretaker at the Paradise Alms House, Cereus Blooms at Night is layered with unforgettable scenes of a world where love and treachery collide.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
“Dazzling . . . Mootoo creates a dense Asian-Caribbean world of buried secrets and desperate memories, a hothouse in which stories grow as lushly as flowers.” —Books in Canada
“The passion of the characters, their insistence to live, to find joy despite the tyranny under which they conduct their lives, makes Cereus Blooms at Night remarkable.” —Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy
“[Mootoo's] language and characters seduce us away to a mythic place that is, by turns, as sweet as the first knowing of love and as hard as a callous blow. Inside the grand sweep of the story are the finely tuned details which mark a brilliant storyteller.” —Jewelle Gomez
“Working with magic, grounded by psychological insight, Mootoo weaves a deft design of vivid and sensuous scenes.” —Quill & Quire
“This ethereal first novel employs myth and magic reminiscent of Isabel Allende.” —Out Magazine
“Reading Cereus Blooms at Night is like reading a dream, entering a strange but believable world in which unusual possibilities flower like the cereus itself: evocative, pervasive, sensuous.” —Books in Canada
“A swirling cauldron of cross-generational history filled with violence, romance, aching beauty, and heart-breaking mystery.” —Sojourner
“[A] writer with a generous spirit and a gift for storytelling. We should watch where she travels next.” —The Globe and Mail
“Mootoo’s ability to evoke a physical environment is so convincing that the reader can taste the grittiness of lime dust on her own lips. . . . She is able to enter each character from their own deepest place of privacy.” —Lambda Book Report
“Like the titular cereus that blooms once a year at night, Mootoo at the climax releases a dense burst of aroma into this exquisitely exact novel.” —Georgia Straight
“Cereus Blooms at Night is a gem, a wonderful flower of a first novel; Shani Mootoo can be counted as one of our most gifted new writers.” —Vancouver Sun
“The passion of the characters, their insistence to live, to find joy despite the tyranny under which they conduct their lives, makes Cereus Blooms at Night remarkable.” —Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy
“[Mootoo's] language and characters seduce us away to a mythic place that is, by turns, as sweet as the first knowing of love and as hard as a callous blow. Inside the grand sweep of the story are the finely tuned details which mark a brilliant storyteller.” —Jewelle Gomez
“Working with magic, grounded by psychological insight, Mootoo weaves a deft design of vivid and sensuous scenes.” —Quill & Quire
“This ethereal first novel employs myth and magic reminiscent of Isabel Allende.” —Out Magazine
“Reading Cereus Blooms at Night is like reading a dream, entering a strange but believable world in which unusual possibilities flower like the cereus itself: evocative, pervasive, sensuous.” —Books in Canada
“A swirling cauldron of cross-generational history filled with violence, romance, aching beauty, and heart-breaking mystery.” —Sojourner
“[A] writer with a generous spirit and a gift for storytelling. We should watch where she travels next.” —The Globe and Mail
“Mootoo’s ability to evoke a physical environment is so convincing that the reader can taste the grittiness of lime dust on her own lips. . . . She is able to enter each character from their own deepest place of privacy.” —Lambda Book Report
“Like the titular cereus that blooms once a year at night, Mootoo at the climax releases a dense burst of aroma into this exquisitely exact novel.” —Georgia Straight
“Cereus Blooms at Night is a gem, a wonderful flower of a first novel; Shani Mootoo can be counted as one of our most gifted new writers.” —Vancouver Sun
Religion is also an important theme here, along with a bit of found family fun for a bit of light relief.
The writing is top knotch, but the thing that impressed me the most in an already impressive novel was the plotting it is exquisite. Especially when you consider it was a debut. If I can describe it visually and say, on the outside, it is a perfect circle and on inside, you peel back the layers.
If you think you can see yourself over the trigger warnings, then this is a total gem and a lesson in why you should sometimes join a bookclub because I would never have found it otherwise.
This is so good I am going to struggle to do it ju
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.