typewriter's review against another edition
I could see where the book was going and it didn't interest me enough to continue.
franksreads's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful, funny and poetic novel. Highly recommend!
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
I got this ARC and put it aside, but that was a mistake. Set in 1980s Beirut, we follow Pavlov (nicknamed after his work with a dog) as he watches his undertaker father's work and slowly takes over that business. The descriptions of his family and others in his immediate neighborhood, as well as those who need his services as a member of the Hellfire Society, are worth the reading alone. There's also a great sense of what life in Beirut at that time was like, the danger and bombing almost becoming normal. It was disappointing that the Society's beliefs aren't more fleshed out (there is a discussion or two, but there could have been more, imvho).
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
lagobond's review against another edition
1.0
The premise was interesting, and I really would have liked to learn a few things about Lebanon, but I don't like Hage's writing style. Pretentious and boring. I also quickly got tired of the protagonist's father being ominously referred to as "the father" over and over and over.
On a different note, I can't stand books that keep hinting at some great mysterious secret. It feels like a cheap attempt at adding tension, and usually fails to deliver anything of substance.
On a different note, I can't stand books that keep hinting at some great mysterious secret. It feels like a cheap attempt at adding tension, and usually fails to deliver anything of substance.
ornery_librarian's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book even though I'm not sure I "got" it. It was dark and I liked the perspective.
trout_lily's review against another edition
3.0
I have to say that I remembered the book only when the author's name resonated with me with regards to the Giller Prize. I had to look up this book because I had forgotten all about it!
I liked the story of this odd, unique man in the middle of great sectarian violence performing a secret and most important task of burying the dead who are deemed outcasts from society. Pavlov is almost invisible unless his services are needed and he watches and narrates the war, it's sectarianism and the day to day of the people caught in or participating in it.
maudeheiser's review against another edition
4.0
This was slow, dry and gloomy but dang, it was so good!
nataliesnotinit's review against another edition
DNF
I just couldn't make it through.
After one of the more promising and quietly beautiful prologues of anything I've read this year, the detached voice and stiff proceeding chapters left me feeling let down.
Then, after a bunch of short chapters, there's the first long one with El-Marquis and I lost all my patience during his insufferable 20-page monologue about how sleeping with his students was a form of spreading intellectualism, his anecdote about killing a man and his son while firing a gun during anal sex (was this supposed to be funny? sad? Hage tells us this without any discernible tone and drops this moment instantly, so who's to say), and a moment where he comes onto the underage protagonist (yikes), all while Pavlov finds him strange but "fascinating." Having read Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age earlier this year, this chapter came off as a far weaker imitation of the kind of palavering Hrabal accomplishes there and made my tolerance of this even lesser.
I'm not even dignifying this with any more comments. From what I've read of reviews here about the book's lack of payoff or forwarding of ideas, I think I'm making the right call in stopping here.
I just couldn't make it through.
After one of the more promising and quietly beautiful prologues of anything I've read this year, the detached voice and stiff proceeding chapters left me feeling let down.
Then, after a bunch of short chapters, there's the first long one with El-Marquis and I lost all my patience during his insufferable 20-page monologue about how sleeping with his students was a form of spreading intellectualism, his anecdote about killing a man and his son while firing a gun during anal sex (was this supposed to be funny? sad? Hage tells us this without any discernible tone and drops this moment instantly, so who's to say), and a moment where he comes onto the underage protagonist (yikes), all while Pavlov finds him strange but "fascinating." Having read Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age earlier this year, this chapter came off as a far weaker imitation of the kind of palavering Hrabal accomplishes there and made my tolerance of this even lesser.
I'm not even dignifying this with any more comments. From what I've read of reviews here about the book's lack of payoff or forwarding of ideas, I think I'm making the right call in stopping here.
ppmarkgraf's review against another edition
1.0
Thank you for the opportunity to review this ARC. I found this to be a struggle to read. Perhaps I am simply thick-headed, as found nearly nothing of note to positively rave about. This was a painful journey of reading, and I only finished it because I appreciate being given the chance to read an ARC and enjoy it. I am, however, interested to learn what others liked about it. For me it seemed that the author used graphic scenes just because he could; for they provided no substance for this reader/reviewer.