madmaud77's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
ianlumsden's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
funaek's review against another edition
4.0
In The Time of The Blue Ball by Manuela Draeger is one of the weirdest books I've ever read. Ever. It's written with the crazy logic and settings of dreams where time is counted by different colored balls, a woman who invented fire keeps them in jars, a tigerlike cat or a tiger lives in a stairwell, a dog plays in an orchestra of flies, and motionless baby pelicans litter the streets as they wait for mother pelicans to be created. I scoffed at first and thought I'd dnf, but somehow I got caught up in the rhythm of these strange stories. If you're looking for weird and something that'll test the limits of your imagination, check this out.
gettyhesse's review against another edition
3.0
I'm oscillating between giving this three or four stars. I suspect I should read more of the post-exotic literary project, of which this book is just a tiny corner, in order to better understand Draeger's nonsense-narratives.
madi's review against another edition
3.0
Bizarre and fun but I didn’t feel a sense of purpose in reading them. Bought this along with 6 other Dorothy Project books because I’m obsessed with two of their releases (Wild Milk & The Babysitter at Rest) but this one felt a little flat for me. Maybe something was missing in translation. I could see these being fun to read out loud to kids.
tmcswe's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
piccoline's review
4.0
Bizarre yet... right. The three stories contained here are strange, funny fables. The storytelling is brisk, and the whimsy never overwhelms the narrative itself.
The stories stand on their own, well worth your attention. What makes it all the more fascinating for me is that Manuela Draeger is another pseudonym for the (already pseudonymous) writer [a:Antoine Volodine|261375|Antoine Volodine|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. Draeger, in fact, is a character in Volodine's [b:Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven|23282077|Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven|Antoine Volodine|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419320760s/23282077.jpg|42819936]. So, these works also make up a strange little corner of Volodine's ongoing and sprawling project. Because of course you should have some fables aimed at a younger audience as part of your imagined/invented/existing literary resistance movement.
Very good stuff.
The stories stand on their own, well worth your attention. What makes it all the more fascinating for me is that Manuela Draeger is another pseudonym for the (already pseudonymous) writer [a:Antoine Volodine|261375|Antoine Volodine|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. Draeger, in fact, is a character in Volodine's [b:Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven|23282077|Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven|Antoine Volodine|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419320760s/23282077.jpg|42819936]. So, these works also make up a strange little corner of Volodine's ongoing and sprawling project. Because of course you should have some fables aimed at a younger audience as part of your imagined/invented/existing literary resistance movement.
Very good stuff.
ederwin's review
3.0
Three very short dream-like nonsense stories which play out in a world which seems like a nightmare, except that nobody seems unhappy. Sure, it may be freezing and there may be meteorites raining down and destroying train stations, and the wolverine factory has stopped making wolverines, but your dog plays wonderful music with the fly orchestra, so why worry? Better for you to team up with a wolly crab to go on a journey to try to prevent some child somewhere from unknowingly eating the one noodle with a name, Auguste Diodon.
Now, I love surrealism and nonsense, but somehow this wasn't nearly as interesting to me as I had hoped. Perhaps I'd enjoy it more if I had first read "Minor Angels" by [a: Antoine Volodine|261375|Antoine Volodine|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], in which this author is a character, as that would give me some context for the world in which these stories were written, and the characters they were written for. An article in The Paris Review gives me a little of that context, and suggests that maybe these stories are taking place in the Bardo, the realm between life and death, which makes some sense for me. But still, I think I can't say that I like these more than tepidly.
Now, I love surrealism and nonsense, but somehow this wasn't nearly as interesting to me as I had hoped. Perhaps I'd enjoy it more if I had first read "Minor Angels" by [a: Antoine Volodine|261375|Antoine Volodine|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], in which this author is a character, as that would give me some context for the world in which these stories were written, and the characters they were written for. An article in The Paris Review gives me a little of that context, and suggests that maybe these stories are taking place in the Bardo, the realm between life and death, which makes some sense for me. But still, I think I can't say that I like these more than tepidly.
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