A Night at the Movies, is an illussive postmodern novel waith a dangerous twist of cinema genres. Coover's text interest me because all of the stories in novel seem to deal with identity. This is why I found the book confusing. Coover's illusive words and characters makr the novel hard to follow. Although coover's novel wasconfusing , it was not all bad. One of Coover's overall strengths was that he is able to create the cinematic feeling by being very desciptive. An example of his discriptive skill shows up in "Chalie in the House of Rue". Charlie discovers a police officer sitting in a tub of water. Coover describes,"His uniform is black ripply beneath the surface, the brass botton appearing to float free"(107). This descriptiion helps you visualize the officer, asif you are in the movies watching. This book is a okay read, but is very confusing. I suggest if you are not a vivid reader not to read this book. Unless your teacher assigns it. which in this case you better read it.

A Night at the Movies by Robert Coover takes a look at film of the twentieth century in a way that makes you feel like you're in the front row enjoying every scene. Coover's breakdown of the different film genres is great. He gives us all a little taste of everything in the first chapter and then gets more focused on particular genres in later chapters. One of the overall strengths in the book is the transition from one genre to the next. In the beginning of the book where Coover is moving rapidly through different genres he still manages to tie in an interesting story. An over all weakness of the text is the very short sections between the others. These stories are very short and kind of slow. After reading them I wondered why they are even in the book. Coovers text provides a smooth transition from one film genre to the next. He does a good job of accomplishing what he set out to do. Which is explore the different types of films of our time. Coover's A Night at the Movies is worth while reading for anyone who is interested in film and wants to examine a wide range of film genres.

A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES by Robert Coover is a bunch of short stories within a story, these stories are based on movie sterotypes. This story is based on sex and violence which increase within the story. This story shows the purpose of the increase in sex and violence within society from the 40's to the present. Coover strength in most cases is how he uses various movie sterotypes to display the ending that is not your typical ending. A western movie would overall include the "good guy" winning, however its not in this case. Overall A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES by Robert Coover is a good read that display the way in which modern society has changed its openness and view on sex and violence and how people typically think a certain movie will end. This book is designed for a more mature audiance.

I did not find this book particularly erotic, and it was plotless to me.

Coover's brief tale takes a paper-thin premise and runs it right into the ground--yes, it's yet another one of those self-indulgent, self-conscious post-modernist novels seldom enjoyed by anyone who isn't an undergraduate English major. It's a very short book that you will likely wish were shorter. But though the plot goes (by design) nowhere, and the book is stuffed with the kind of affected whimsy employed by writers far too impressed with their own intelligence, there is some witty, bouncy prose to enjoy and a few inspired comic moments. For what it is, it's well put together.

Taking a cue from Raymond Queneau's "Exercises in Style," and his own short stories featured in "Pricksongs and Descants," what would seem to be only an experiment develops into a real commentary on self-reference and post structuralism. Coover's treatment of the master-slave, dominant-submissive relationship serves to show the sado-masochistic exchange that exists in language when that language becomes "meta" language, or language about language. In this way all "criticism" is "criticized," begging the question: if meta language is sado-masochistic, what is meta-meta language?

The novel also works despite its subject matter-- if Coover had chosen some other setting, one could still delight in the way he weaves repitition into an ongoing cascade, each permutation the same and wholly different. Chaos theory as literary genre? Now who's being sado-masochistic?

Well, sorry but this story [is disappointing]. Espescially for anyone who enjoyed the story and idea of Sleeping Beauty. And its not even that the story is that bad. The writing [is no good]. The reader is constantly confused, and even when you've finished the book, you might go "huh?" I hated it. I do not suggest that anyone buy this book.

As I read this book for a college class on fairy tales, I began to realize what Coover was doing: throwing out narrative for an exploration of destiny, fairy tales, dreams, story, and relationship to the reader. By the end of the short book, I totally hated it. So what do I do? I read it again. That's right, I'm drawn back to this meticulous piece of boredom. I guess that means the book is either brilliant or such a beautiful car wreck I have to make a U-turn to take a second look.

Robert Coover is one of the pioneering post-modernists that started working in the 60's and shows no signs of stopping...The three main characters of the piece are the princess, known as Rose, the rescuing prince, and the wicked fairy who cast the spell on her.

Instead of an innocent princess, we have one who dreams of being violated sexually by her prince before he gives her a kiss to wake her. She is aroused by this. The only world she inhabits is that of her dreams. In her moments of existentialist thought she questions why she has to be the princess. Why is she made to suffer? What did she do wrong to be enchanted into an eternal sleep?

The prince at first appears to be the stereotype we all know. He is handsome, brave, and whose sole reason for living is to do good. He is flawed, though, by his own over-confidence. Most of the book he is cutting through briars. Even he is not really interested in Rose. He is simply fulfilling his mythic job. Namely, rescuing virgin maidens. He has a problem with his fate too. He lives for the quest and recognizes that once the quest is over the aftermath becomes too mundane. If he rescues the princess, he will have to marry her and settle down. There is no mystery or wonder in day to day life and so he almost dreads getting to the castle to wake her.

As with most post-modern thought the fairy exhibits both good and evil sides, almost a two-face type character. She feels on one side a joy in the princess' suffering but on the other hand she feels she rescued her from an otherwise humdrum existence. At least while she is enchanted she will not know death or pain. Unfortunately, the fairy has to supply the dreams of Rose and most of them are about horrible tales that happened to sleeping princesses.

I liked this book a lot. You feel as though all the characters are fighting against their archetypal nature. They are all struggling against their fate and this is heroic. It is more than a questioning of existence. This book is about the QUEST for existence. What does it mean to fulfill your destiny? Is there anything after that? Are your dreams stronger than reality? I would recommend this book to first-time Coover readers because it is short and more accessible than some of his other work. Besides, the language is beautiful.