Dancing in the Dark: Romance, Yearning, and the Search for the Sublime

Folks seeking romance in their humdrum lives are bound to be inspired by Ascher's (Landscape Without Gravity) promise that the romantic quest requires only ""the courage of an available heart and freedom of imagination."" It sounds so appealing, so accessible--which is why it's frustrating when Ascher's quest turns out to be a series of mostly elitist adventures. She takes VIP tours of the Prado and Fallingwater, chats with Tom Cruise in Venice and hangs out in the kitchen of Le Cirque 2000, eating creme brul e before lunch while comparing the pastry chef to Michelangelo, Gershwin and Balboa. To be fair, Ascher never says that hers is the only path to romance, and she does spend a lot of time bird-watching--a hobby even those with limited incomes can enjoy. Although her admiration for the people she observes practicing their crafts is admirable, most readers will likely be frustrated by her numerous exclamations of wonder: her writing is punctuated by such observations as ""An architect makes love to the air"" and ""We are sentinels at the gates of our own lives."" As passionate as Ascher is, her book amounts to an exercise in systematically applied hyperbole rather than a sustained meditation on the sublime. (May)