I was at the local library, desperately searching for something interesting to read. I found a copy of Michel Laub’s Diary of the Fall and I was attracted by the concept: Three men from different generations, each facing different problems (and yet with an underlying similarity). Sounded interesting for someone who likes literary fiction, right? Well, that’s what I thought too. But, unfortunately, as this review of Diary of the Fall will reveal, sometimes all the ingredients are there but the recipe is a failure.
The art cover of Diary of the Fall is very similar to this stock photo. But here’s a little problem: Despite the author’s (and the protagonist’s) efforts to convince the reader the fall described in the story was some sort of threshold, the result is thoroughly unconvincing.(more…)
Albanian literature is not something I’ve been exposed to a lot. Indeed, this review of A Girl in Exile, by Ismail Kadare, is not only the first opportunity for me to review a novel of Albanian literature, but also the first time I even read one.
The story seems deceptively simple. According to the book description:
During the bureaucratic machinery of Albania’s 1945–1991 dictatorship, playwright Rudian Stefa is called in for questioning by the Party Committee. A girl—Linda B.—has been found dead, with a signed copy of his latest book in her possession. He soon learns that Linda’s family, considered suspect, was exiled to a small town far from the capital. Under the influence of a paranoid regime, Rudian finds himself swept along on a surreal quest to discover what really happened to Linda B.
At first glance, A Girl in Exile seems like a mystery thriller with political aspects. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Albania is a fascinatingly mysterious country, and the world of A Girl in Exile reveals that marvellously. (more…)
Imagine a world where people snub literature and knowledge. Those who read are “readers”, a derogatory term barely superior to being a burger-flipper. It’s a world just like our own. When you think of it, it is our own. Welcome to Illiterary Fiction, my latest literary-fiction novel.
What if people stopped reading altogether? What if there existed professional readers, whose job would be to read and summarize for those who wouldn’t read anything longer than a tweet?
The world of Illiterary Fiction is not a pleasant one. It becomes even less so once you realize it doesn’t differ at all from our world.
