by Georgi Gospodinov & translated by Zornitsa Hristova ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 8, 2005
Weirdly well written and equally self-conscious. The French have already claimed this Bulgarian poet and short-story author.
A brief, witty, experimental debut novel about the sorrowful fragmented musings of a newly divorced man—originally published in 1999 in Bulgarian.
The hapless first-person narrator, who functions as frustrated author, editor, and protagonist, aims to write a narrative of beginnings “that keeps starting, promising something,” as he says, “then starting again.” The result reads like diary entries, containing dreams, memories, extracts from texts of classical literature, and “pointless” dialogue. The plot, such as it is, centers on the precipitating crisis of the narrator’s divorce. His wife of seven years, after a period of estrangement, becomes pregnant by another man; the husband moves out of their Sofia apartment, which is heavy with associations; the two divorce, and the man obsesses about his ex-wife. Unhinged, he becomes morbidly fascinated by the banality of everyday things, such as the function of the toilet: “The more irrationally isolated I became about my marriage,” he notes, “the more I drifted toward the bathroom.” His attempt to write a “natural history of the toilet,” if only to crack the enforced silence around the subject, becomes a metaphor for the constricting inadequacy of language itself, as these fragments themselves demonstrate. The narrator’s close observation of the fly is another means of idiosyncratic expression. Alas, after introducing a bit of content in his marital narrative, but then pulling back without follow-through, he’s left sitting in his rocking chair, tattered and inarticulate, while the reader grows increasingly exasperated, relieved to reach the end. (Skip the self-congratulatory author interview.)
Weirdly well written and equally self-conscious. The French have already claimed this Bulgarian poet and short-story author.Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2005
ISBN: 1-56478-376-6
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Dalkey Archive
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2004
Share your opinion of this book
More by Georgi Gospodinov
BOOK REVIEW
by Georgi Gospodinov translated by Angela Rodel
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
Share your opinion of this book
More by J.D. Salinger
BOOK REVIEW
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.