Reviews

The introduction to this book compares the author's style to both Faulkner and silent movies and I am not sure I could offer a more succinct or accurate comparison myself. The way the book is interspersed with flashbacks that often blend with the present, was very much like something out of Faulkner's works (although I liked it quite a bit better than I liked any Faulkner). As for the silent movies, the character has this voice that, for me, captured the sense of subtle, often absurd, humor that silent movies sometimes had, and that contemporary movies seem too often to be greatly lacking. While I would say that it is not the kind of humor I think most would find funny, it was beautifully dark and satirical and so subtle that at times I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be shocked or whether the effect was meant to be melancholy and I was just morbidly amused. The narrative also had this strange effect of swelling up and down, one moment being laughably absurd and the next evoking this feeling of deep existential dread. Is it for everyone? Maybe not. Is it weird that I find incredibly morbid things hysterically funny? Probably. Did I love this? Absolutely.

naya16's review against another edition

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challenging funny sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

czluca05's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

3.75

wrongwayhome's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

aszulia's review against another edition

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funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Looking at the world through Miloš’s eyes as the second world word comes to a frantic end was an uneasy experience. The mix of earthly humour, provincial train station drama, adolescent dilemmas and tough conditions of life under still German occupation and bold conspiracy kept me invested in the plot, but what stroke me the most was his calm, analytic, yet full of compassion description of animals being transported to slaughter. It was not the focus of the book, in fact only a couple of sentences pertain to the transport. Be it a metaphor for people carried to concentration camps or in fact observations of last moments of farm animals’ lives, through his short, observative sentences he conveyed a powerful picture of men as they are: brutal and indifferent to the powerless, and the array of pain and despair suffered by the ones facing their end. I felt heartbroken and touched deeply by the book.

isaiconica's review against another edition

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2.0

2'5.

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