A review by selenajournal
Waiting for Columbus, by Thomas Trofimuk
4.0
Holding the book in my hands, I knew it would b beautiful. The cover featured an overcast sky with hints of gold sun shining through, and the most beautiful blue rising waves.
Waiting for Columbus was a dream of a novel. It is about a man who wakes up in the prestigious Sevilla Institute for the Mentally Ill and believes himself to be Columbus. The nurse assigned to him, Consuela, stays with Columbus as the institute attempts to find out his identity. He stays with his claim; he is Columbus. And he has the lavish stories to support it. He tells Consuela of the women in his life and of his efforts to gain a fleet of ships to sail the ocean. But each story has something, a modern thing, that is out of place. Each story is close but doesn’t exactly fit with history. Consuela can see that these stories are the answer, listening to them will help her figure out just how it is that Columbus forgot who he was.
This story was almost perfect. The problem I had with Waiting for Columbus is that the explanation for why Columbus lost his memory is very closely tied to a popular current issue that is being cited sometimes with good reason and mostly without. I know that having not read the book, this doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to give away the plot point but I do want to say that this was a flaw that I saw.
However, this isn’t where the story ends. Trofimuk gives Columbus a very satisfying ending which made the character really stay with me after the book was over.
Waiting for Columbus was a dream of a novel. It is about a man who wakes up in the prestigious Sevilla Institute for the Mentally Ill and believes himself to be Columbus. The nurse assigned to him, Consuela, stays with Columbus as the institute attempts to find out his identity. He stays with his claim; he is Columbus. And he has the lavish stories to support it. He tells Consuela of the women in his life and of his efforts to gain a fleet of ships to sail the ocean. But each story has something, a modern thing, that is out of place. Each story is close but doesn’t exactly fit with history. Consuela can see that these stories are the answer, listening to them will help her figure out just how it is that Columbus forgot who he was.
This story was almost perfect. The problem I had with Waiting for Columbus is that the explanation for why Columbus lost his memory is very closely tied to a popular current issue that is being cited sometimes with good reason and mostly without. I know that having not read the book, this doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to give away the plot point but I do want to say that this was a flaw that I saw.
However, this isn’t where the story ends. Trofimuk gives Columbus a very satisfying ending which made the character really stay with me after the book was over.