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A review by steveatwaywords
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have not been particularly enamored of all the Booker winners, but finding Gospodinov has been a real joy, and the rest of his works are now on my TBR list! Meta-fictional, musing, wrestling with the angst of nostalgia, challenging Europe's political pasts, citing Foucault as a marker that perhaps we are all in many ways delusional, victims of a societal dementia--somehow Gospodinov builds a labyrinth of uncertainties which echo too truly our recent crises of political and psychological identity.
It may be worthwhile to know just a bit about 20th century European politics, especially of Eastern Europe, but Gospodinov's explanations of our various decades past serve well even for those completely unfamiliar. Still, as I traveled Bulgaria and studied its history while I read, I found those sections of the novel particularly fulfilling.
I won't offer spoilers (for the directions this novel takes are half its fun), but I was captured by the breadth of Gospodinov's ambition: just when you think this is a novel of mental health care, for instance, it turns left to find you in a surreal space of narrator misperception; when you believe it may be a political satire (and there is much of this), it turns again to challenge its own premises.
As I read, I was reminded of Umberto Eco (though not nearly as academic or elusive) and even the traditions of Gothic horror, of a postmodern mad scientist diagnosing our collective schizophrenia: and what is worse, I very often believed him/them (?). Part fantastic tale, part a culturally apocalyptic harbinger, <i> Time Shelter</i> offers us what we believe we want: and that is the terror in it.
It may be worthwhile to know just a bit about 20th century European politics, especially of Eastern Europe, but Gospodinov's explanations of our various decades past serve well even for those completely unfamiliar. Still, as I traveled Bulgaria and studied its history while I read, I found those sections of the novel particularly fulfilling.
I won't offer spoilers (for the directions this novel takes are half its fun), but I was captured by the breadth of Gospodinov's ambition: just when you think this is a novel of mental health care, for instance, it turns left to find you in a surreal space of narrator misperception; when you believe it may be a political satire (and there is much of this), it turns again to challenge its own premises.
As I read, I was reminded of Umberto Eco (though not nearly as academic or elusive) and even the traditions of Gothic horror, of a postmodern mad scientist diagnosing our collective schizophrenia: and what is worse, I very often believed him/them (?). Part fantastic tale, part a culturally apocalyptic harbinger, <i> Time Shelter</i> offers us what we believe we want: and that is the terror in it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Violence
Minor: Torture
All scenes which are content sensitive are told in the context of 20th century European history.