[Book Design Analysis] Obsessing Over VOICES IN THE NIGHT by Steven Millhauser

This weekend, I saw a book at the store and fell in LOVE with its cover, VOICES IN THE NIGHT by Steven Millhauser.

It's striking and stands out right away:

When I pulled the jacket off and stretched it, the design continued across the spine and back of the book:

Isn't it mesmerizing? 

The book was designed by Janet Hansen, and I have to applaud all of the little things she's done.

I love the way the lines turn and it's like a wave of lines crashing on top of the straight lines of the book's original cover. It breaks things up and makes them interesting. I like how close the first letter of each word on the cover is so close to that "wave." Down the spine, I like how, instead of saying "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize" like it does on the cover, it has an intriguing symbol peeping out at you, as well as the way "Steven" is at an angle and not completely straight. If I was looking at a row of spines, I'd probably pull this book out for some information!

I'm also a fan of the book's boards, which, when you see it up close and in person (My camera didn't capture it well), is a series of very small lines. Plus, the coloring is lovely!

I'm not usually one to seek out story collections, but I'm actually intrigued about this one. Some of the stories in this collection include fables such as a new story of Rapunzel and a town that may have found a washed-up mermaid on its shores. You know the book sold me when I saw those two things mentioned!!!

I never would have looked twice at this book if it wasn't for the amazing cover design, and now I'm intrigued by its contents as well! (Plus, the author is a Pulitzer Prize winner, so I'm ashamed not to know his work and look forward to beginning the discovery!)

That's a great cover design!!!!

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  VOICES IN THE NIGHT
Author: Steven Millhauser

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Publisher: Knopf

SUMMARY:

From the Pulitzer and Story Prize winner: sixteen new stories—provocative, funny, disturbing, enchanting—that delve into the secret lives and desires of ordinary people, alongside retellings of myths and legends that highlight the aspirations of the human spirit.

Beloved for the lens of the strange he places on small town life, Steven Millhauser further reveals in Voices in the Night the darkest parts of our inner selves to brilliant and dazzling effect. Here are stories of wondrously imaginative hyperrealism, stories that pose unforgettably unsettling what-ifs, or that find barely perceivable evils within the safe boundaries of our towns, homes, and even within our bodies.

Here, too, are stories culled from religion and fables: Samuel, who hears the voice of God calling him in the night; a young, pre-enlightenment Buddha, who searches for his purpose in life; Rapunzel and her Prince, who struggle to fit the real world to their dream.

Heightened by magic, the divine, and the uncanny, shot through with sly and winning humor, Voices in the Night seamlessly combines the whimsy and surprise of the familiar with intoxicating fantasies that take us beyond our daily lives, all done with the hallmark sleight of hand and astonishing virtuosity of one of our greatest contemporary storytellers.