Scan barcode
cardica's review against another edition
4.0
[b:Tales from Two Pockets|33409|Tales from Two Pockets|Karel Čapek|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328766080l/33409._SY75_.jpg|33487] is actually two collections of short stories, Tales from One Pocket and Tales from The Other Pocket, bundled together. This is the perfect pick up and put down and [a:Karel Čapek|439723|Karel Čapek|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208185188p2/439723.jpg] knows exactly what he’s doing. Hailing from the wild distant lands of Czechia, Mr Čapek brings something experimental to our world tour. Most famously known for inventing the word robot, he is well known for writing compelling science fiction that challenge the political climate and critique the status quo. This critical mindset is brought to full bear in this series of short stories as he is both well read and well written in crime novella. Leaving no stone unturned, he uses this series of tales to critique the very position of the reader themselves.
Created as an experiment on Čapek’s part to see if he could spend his summer writing a murder mystery a day, thinking up the concept up the morning on the way to the post office and ending with returning home in the evening to actually write each tale up. You can observe how his own perspective and intent changes from story to story, with the tone subtly shifting from something familiar into something completely alien, as the looking glass is turned closer and closer towards the reader. This is absolutely a collection for veterans of the genre to love and I cannot recommend it enough if you want an abstract look at the innards of detective fiction.
Written in his native Czech, the tales were translated by one Norma ‘Bean’ Comrada and you can really appreciate her attention to detail here, keeping the cultural and historical context that is so important to stories like The Fall of the House of Voticky, while not forsaking readability in the more humorous stories. The series is framed as a group of individuals sat around the metaphorical campfire, trading crime stories in the way we would expect teenagers to share ghost stories, to see who can keep the others up at night. These stories vary wildly in content and tone, but are always told from a unique perspective. From the perspective of a doctor attempting to uncover his friend’s death through his expertise, to the grim comparisons of a soldier returned from war only to deal with the domestic horrors of murder. Each story is deliberately positioned to give a different take on the genre, and it encourages the reader to really think about the broad audience of crime fiction, and how they fit into the uh ‘discipline’ of the art of solving murder mystery fiction.
Tales From Two Pockets is an excellent coffee table book. You can read each story in less than half an hour and this plays as its greatest strength. You can conceivably read the stories in any order, you could even pick out the ones with titles that most interest you. When I read through I actually read A Lyrical Thief first in the collection, which is exactly what it sounds like. A tale of a thief who leaves a little poem at the scene of the crime, almost daring the police to catch them in a Joker-esque move. It of course turns out that the thief really just wanted his poems published, and Capek tells us a tale of both wry humour and tragedy as we learn more about the passion of this poor lyrical thief and his dream to land amongst the stars.
The weakness, on the other hand, that stops Tales from quite hitting that high note is that it’s not anything greater than what it says on the tin. The stories themselves are entertaining and thoughtful but they don’t stick around long enough to say thoroughly explore their subject matter. It really is just scratching the surface of a deep rabbit hole.
With all said and done I reach into my pocket and pull out…. One other pocket that’s right I’m giving this one out of two pockets because there isn’t enough substance here to fill out two completely. Tales from Two Pockets is our 9th ranking story for 2019 on Death of the Reader. You can hear our full thoughts on the podcast!
Created as an experiment on Čapek’s part to see if he could spend his summer writing a murder mystery a day, thinking up the concept up the morning on the way to the post office and ending with returning home in the evening to actually write each tale up. You can observe how his own perspective and intent changes from story to story, with the tone subtly shifting from something familiar into something completely alien, as the looking glass is turned closer and closer towards the reader. This is absolutely a collection for veterans of the genre to love and I cannot recommend it enough if you want an abstract look at the innards of detective fiction.
Written in his native Czech, the tales were translated by one Norma ‘Bean’ Comrada and you can really appreciate her attention to detail here, keeping the cultural and historical context that is so important to stories like The Fall of the House of Voticky, while not forsaking readability in the more humorous stories. The series is framed as a group of individuals sat around the metaphorical campfire, trading crime stories in the way we would expect teenagers to share ghost stories, to see who can keep the others up at night. These stories vary wildly in content and tone, but are always told from a unique perspective. From the perspective of a doctor attempting to uncover his friend’s death through his expertise, to the grim comparisons of a soldier returned from war only to deal with the domestic horrors of murder. Each story is deliberately positioned to give a different take on the genre, and it encourages the reader to really think about the broad audience of crime fiction, and how they fit into the uh ‘discipline’ of the art of solving murder mystery fiction.
Tales From Two Pockets is an excellent coffee table book. You can read each story in less than half an hour and this plays as its greatest strength. You can conceivably read the stories in any order, you could even pick out the ones with titles that most interest you. When I read through I actually read A Lyrical Thief first in the collection, which is exactly what it sounds like. A tale of a thief who leaves a little poem at the scene of the crime, almost daring the police to catch them in a Joker-esque move. It of course turns out that the thief really just wanted his poems published, and Capek tells us a tale of both wry humour and tragedy as we learn more about the passion of this poor lyrical thief and his dream to land amongst the stars.
The weakness, on the other hand, that stops Tales from quite hitting that high note is that it’s not anything greater than what it says on the tin. The stories themselves are entertaining and thoughtful but they don’t stick around long enough to say thoroughly explore their subject matter. It really is just scratching the surface of a deep rabbit hole.
With all said and done I reach into my pocket and pull out…. One other pocket that’s right I’m giving this one out of two pockets because there isn’t enough substance here to fill out two completely. Tales from Two Pockets is our 9th ranking story for 2019 on Death of the Reader. You can hear our full thoughts on the podcast!
jozefetko's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
sofijka's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
booccmaster's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
vitekslayed's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
spilt_moonlight's review against another edition
3.0
Hoa cúc xanh là một tập những truyện ngắn và siêu ngắn, gợi nhiều hơn kể, và vì ngắn nên nhiều truyện có thể suy ra đôi ba nghĩa tùy ý người đọc. Mình nghe kể đây vốn là những truyện tác giả viết đăng báo, trung bình một tuần cho ra một truyện. Như vậy cũng không đáng ngạc nhiên khi những truyện ở cuối sách tương đối đầy đặn hơn. 2 truyện mình ưng nhất là "Phiên tòa cuối cùng" và "tội ác ở bưu điện".
ovidusnaso's review against another edition
5.0
"Håhå!"
"Aha!"
"Nei hallo!"
"O tempora o mores!"
Alle utbrudd framkalt av denne boka.
Capek var rett og slett et litterært geni, og mange av vår tids største mysterieforfattere kunne mangedobla kvaliteten på bøkene sine om de tok lærdom fra ham.
"Aha!"
"Nei hallo!"
"O tempora o mores!"
Alle utbrudd framkalt av denne boka.
Capek var rett og slett et litterært geni, og mange av vår tids største mysterieforfattere kunne mangedobla kvaliteten på bøkene sine om de tok lærdom fra ham.
hanasxch's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25