Nocturnes for the King of Naples

"Artful vignettes from a life passed between Bohemian and cafe societies, in Italy and Spain, on a decaying American estate, on the New York piers . . . It is exquisite prose, gooey and fantastic as Italian pastry, mounds of it, piled on prodigally. Elegant plays on words abound . . . Proust, for a possible comparison, piled phrase upon phrase . . . Mr. White [is] a similar virtuoso . . . Nocturnes is a set of delicious . . . prose poems by a writer of great talent and high art."--John Yohalem "New York Times"
"[A] near perfect poetic effusion disguised as a novel, [written] in the voice of a younger man who rejects a sophisticated, well-traveled, and widely-admired older lover."--Stephen Barber "Gay and Lesbian Review"
"[Contains] the most gorgeous evocation I have ever read of the 1970s gay male nighttown at New York's old rotting piers, a twisted, rusting, metallic ruin of anonymous sex and unexpectedly sublime tableaus . . . an abundant, carnal and glittering place, populated by fearless, libidinal aesthetes."--Stacey D'Erasmo "New York Times Book Review"
"There are few novels which defy reviewing. They are the ones that provide us with unique reading experiences, which become valuable additions to understanding of the world and ourselves. Edmund White's new novel is one of these . . . Some of the finest writing to be found in recent American fiction."--Doris Grumbach "Washington Post Book World"