eabhalefada's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mimesatwork's review against another edition
3.0
I read the English translation of the book, so my review tries to take into consideration that there may be translational loss between the original and this work.
The book is comprised of short stories from the point of view of people inhabiting the Iraq/Iran/Syria area, some refugees, some living under military rule. The stories are told second or third hand, mostly beginning with someone relating another person's story which might then branch out to a third or a fourth one. The stories are bloody. If you can't stand reading about body parts or death, then you might want to skip this. The gore is expressed very matter-of-factly. It's just there, the same way houses and dirt and the sky is there. It's depicted without particular passion, which you could say for most of the events described. The structure of having a narrator relate stories within stories creates a strange buffer between the reader and the narrative. Like you were reading case files littered with particularly intricate details.
Most of the stories in this collection are engaging and succeed in delivering. Only one or two I would've left out because the change in focus from real people dealing with the effects of PTSD in their own respective ways, to something attempting at an actual supernatural hook feels out of place. But that's a personal opinion. The language feels floral in a pleasant way. The characters act like real people and the stories like something you might hear when talking to strangers after a few drinks.
A harsh but good reading experience.
The book is comprised of short stories from the point of view of people inhabiting the Iraq/Iran/Syria area, some refugees, some living under military rule. The stories are told second or third hand, mostly beginning with someone relating another person's story which might then branch out to a third or a fourth one. The stories are bloody. If you can't stand reading about body parts or death, then you might want to skip this. The gore is expressed very matter-of-factly. It's just there, the same way houses and dirt and the sky is there. It's depicted without particular passion, which you could say for most of the events described. The structure of having a narrator relate stories within stories creates a strange buffer between the reader and the narrative. Like you were reading case files littered with particularly intricate details.
Most of the stories in this collection are engaging and succeed in delivering. Only one or two I would've left out because the change in focus from real people dealing with the effects of PTSD in their own respective ways, to something attempting at an actual supernatural hook feels out of place. But that's a personal opinion. The language feels floral in a pleasant way. The characters act like real people and the stories like something you might hear when talking to strangers after a few drinks.
A harsh but good reading experience.
hanazet's review against another edition
5.0
Usaďte sa vo svojich pohodlných kreslách v bezpečných domovoch, kde máte - máme - svoje problémy, ale kým nám nejde o život, ide o… veď viete. A teraz dovoľte Hassanovi Blasimovi, irackému emigrantovi žijúcemu vo Fínsku, aby vám ukázal, ako to vyzerá v jeho domovine. Nebojte sa, nebude vás citovo vydierať, plakať, sťažovať sa. Nebude to vlastne ani veľmi nepríjemné. Blasim to totiž dáva s eleganciou, iróniou, nádychom čierneho, temného humoru a najmä s ľahkosťou, nech to znie akokoľvek nezlúčiteľne so životom v postsaddámovskom Iraku.
“Mnohokrát som si pomyslel, že by som svoj život mohol stráviť písaním týchto surrealistických príbehov, ktoré som prežil spolu s ilegálnymi utečencami. Je to ako moja súkromná rakovina, z ktorej neviem, ako sa vyliečiť.”
Blázon z Námestia slobody je Blasimovou debutovou zbierkou poviedok a musím povedať, že jeho štýl rozhodne začiatočnícky nepôsobí; naopak, je silnou výpoveďou, ktorá vás zasiahne svojou surovosťou, ale stále neskĺzne do zjavnej snahy iba poriadne šokovať. Ocitáme sa vo svete, kde každý nákup na trhu môže byť posledným, kde majú niektorí zamestnanci v popise práce hľadať po nejakom tom výbuchu medzi rozmetaným ovocím a zeleninou časti ľudských tiel. Kde sa ľudia unášajú, postavia pred kameru s vymyslenými scenárom a kšfetuje sa s nimi, ak sa v tomto divadielku osvedčia. Kde je láska riziková záležitosť. Môžete tu prísť o rozum. Alebo sa budete snažiť dostať preč, ale Irak vo vás zostane aj s novým menom a občianstvom.
Hassan Blasim si neberie servítky, otvorene hovorí aj o nepekných veciach a búra tabu. Jeho poviedky sú niekedy vypointované fakt brutálne, ale ani jedna sa mi nezdala nevkusná. A žiadna nie je slabá. Tá s názvom Alího taška mi zlomila srdce. Pre mňa je táto tenučká knižka v krásnom obale (celá táto edícia vyzerá absolútne skvostne!) ďalším mimoriadnym prekvapením.
“Každý utečenec, ktorý sa ocitne v azylovom centre, príde s dvoma príbehmi - jedným skutočným a druhým, ktorý mu poslúži pri registrácii.”
“Mnohokrát som si pomyslel, že by som svoj život mohol stráviť písaním týchto surrealistických príbehov, ktoré som prežil spolu s ilegálnymi utečencami. Je to ako moja súkromná rakovina, z ktorej neviem, ako sa vyliečiť.”
Blázon z Námestia slobody je Blasimovou debutovou zbierkou poviedok a musím povedať, že jeho štýl rozhodne začiatočnícky nepôsobí; naopak, je silnou výpoveďou, ktorá vás zasiahne svojou surovosťou, ale stále neskĺzne do zjavnej snahy iba poriadne šokovať. Ocitáme sa vo svete, kde každý nákup na trhu môže byť posledným, kde majú niektorí zamestnanci v popise práce hľadať po nejakom tom výbuchu medzi rozmetaným ovocím a zeleninou časti ľudských tiel. Kde sa ľudia unášajú, postavia pred kameru s vymyslenými scenárom a kšfetuje sa s nimi, ak sa v tomto divadielku osvedčia. Kde je láska riziková záležitosť. Môžete tu prísť o rozum. Alebo sa budete snažiť dostať preč, ale Irak vo vás zostane aj s novým menom a občianstvom.
Hassan Blasim si neberie servítky, otvorene hovorí aj o nepekných veciach a búra tabu. Jeho poviedky sú niekedy vypointované fakt brutálne, ale ani jedna sa mi nezdala nevkusná. A žiadna nie je slabá. Tá s názvom Alího taška mi zlomila srdce. Pre mňa je táto tenučká knižka v krásnom obale (celá táto edícia vyzerá absolútne skvostne!) ďalším mimoriadnym prekvapením.
“Každý utečenec, ktorý sa ocitne v azylovom centre, príde s dvoma príbehmi - jedným skutočným a druhým, ktorý mu poslúži pri registrácii.”
harisadurrani's review against another edition
4.0
A lot of reviews here are saying the book was hard to digest, either because so much goes unexplained or is confusing, or because it's so gruesome and dark. But Blasim's point - his characters themselves say this - is the bleak surreality of life in general and especially in or after Iraq, with all its horror, and of the menacing weirdness of the Western eye. Shit happens and it often doesn't make sense, especially in Iraq. Another complaint in these reviews was that this kind of storytelling is an acquired taste -- Blasim's using traditional storytelling frames. It's just a matter of adjusting our western preconceptions about what stories are or should be.
Overall this was a quick, fascinating, and sometimes hilariously dark read. Borges meets Poe in modern Iraq. I'd give it a tad below 4 stars (maybe 3.8) just because some stories were not as good as the others. I loved all of them except the second two, which were okay. Beautiful, strange, traditional frametale parable storytelling structures used in the trepidation of modern contexts.
Overall this was a quick, fascinating, and sometimes hilariously dark read. Borges meets Poe in modern Iraq. I'd give it a tad below 4 stars (maybe 3.8) just because some stories were not as good as the others. I loved all of them except the second two, which were okay. Beautiful, strange, traditional frametale parable storytelling structures used in the trepidation of modern contexts.
imaginereader's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
pardonmywritings's review against another edition
5.0
Boy did this collection mess me up. It was a "This is so gross but I. Can't. Stop. My. Eyes" reading experience about insanity, cannibalism and corpses.
~
Some of my favourite short stories were:
⚰️ An Army Newspaper - Where a war journalist goes crazy struggling to hide large amounts of story submissions by a deceased soldier after publishing them and taking the credit.
⚰️ The Virgin and the Soldier - In which U.N. inspectors discover Hamid and a dead girl missing three fingers in the cabinet of a sewing factory.
⚰️ The Truck to Berlin - Where 35 Iraqis attempt to smuggle their way into Berlin but Serbian police discover 34 slaughtered bodies when one jumps out and turns into a wolf.
~
Some of my favourite short stories were:
⚰️ An Army Newspaper - Where a war journalist goes crazy struggling to hide large amounts of story submissions by a deceased soldier after publishing them and taking the credit.
⚰️ The Virgin and the Soldier - In which U.N. inspectors discover Hamid and a dead girl missing three fingers in the cabinet of a sewing factory.
⚰️ The Truck to Berlin - Where 35 Iraqis attempt to smuggle their way into Berlin but Serbian police discover 34 slaughtered bodies when one jumps out and turns into a wolf.
f18's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Stories:
The Reality and the Record
An Army Newspaper
The Composer
The Virgin and the Soldier
The Madman of Freedom Square
The Corpse Exhibition
The Market of Stories
Ali's Bag
The Truck to Berlin
The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes
That Inauspicious Smile
The Reality and the Record
An Army Newspaper
The Composer
The Virgin and the Soldier
The Madman of Freedom Square
The Corpse Exhibition
The Market of Stories
Ali's Bag
The Truck to Berlin
The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes
That Inauspicious Smile
ivaelo's review against another edition
5.0
Разкази за там... Там където кръвта тече по-често от вода, и за хората проливащи я, но най-вече за тези, от които тя тече.
More...