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4.46 AVERAGE
4.46 AVERAGE
It's tough. Parts of it are so good and other parts are soooo boring - sometimes it just feels like it goes on and on (and at 530 odd pages, it really does.) I feel like it could've been a good hundred pages shorter. The narrator at least is a real character; this book would have been interminable otherwise.
There's very little plot to speak of. It's more of a life collage. So if you like meandering almost tangentially related anecdotes about peasant (Polish) farming life, than this book is for you. Everyone else, your mileage may vary. If books about farming are your bag (I'm sure you exist out there), I would recommend the svelte in comparison "The Soil" by Nagatsuka Takashi.
I will say I'm super impressed with the translation - one of the best I've ever read, and I feel like I can say this even without knowing a single word of Polish. The language here is really just something else.
There's very little plot to speak of. It's more of a life collage. So if you like meandering almost tangentially related anecdotes about peasant (Polish) farming life, than this book is for you. Everyone else, your mileage may vary. If books about farming are your bag (I'm sure you exist out there), I would recommend the svelte in comparison "The Soil" by Nagatsuka Takashi.
I will say I'm super impressed with the translation - one of the best I've ever read, and I feel like I can say this even without knowing a single word of Polish. The language here is really just something else.
http://lolantaczyta.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/kamien-na-kamieniu-wieslaw-mysliwski/
My favorite line: "But there are times when all the decent words in the world won't do the job of a single fuck it."
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's a blurb on the back of the book that talks about illuminating the balance of beauty and brutality that defines existence, and I thought that was a wonderful summation of Szymek's story. In a form that could be called naivete, Szymek tells the tale of rustic Polish life in and around WWII. The calm, relaxed lifestyle that is interrupted by mass violence and bloodshed. The good hearted gabber who takes to the bottle too often and can't be taken seriously by his neighbors. The wartime hero who kills Germans without remorse but delicately bathes his ill brother. Szymek's life is a paradox of sorts. It's a wonderful illustration of the fine line of existence.
There are so many qualities to love about this book. The nonlinear structure works wonderfully, Wieslaw's prose is beautiful, the characters are memorable- even the ones who only stick around just long enough to die. A testament to the quality of a writer is the ability to take a quiet scene and make it spellbinding to a reader. Szymek's conversation with the priest, for example. Or the scene of him bathing his brother. Or Szymek coming to terms with a quarrelsome neighbor. But this isn't just a quiet novel, Szymek's experiences during WWII are the stuff of tragedy. I guess that's just another example of the contradictions of Szymek's story.
There are so many qualities to love about this book. The nonlinear structure works wonderfully, Wieslaw's prose is beautiful, the characters are memorable- even the ones who only stick around just long enough to die. A testament to the quality of a writer is the ability to take a quiet scene and make it spellbinding to a reader. Szymek's conversation with the priest, for example. Or the scene of him bathing his brother. Or Szymek coming to terms with a quarrelsome neighbor. But this isn't just a quiet novel, Szymek's experiences during WWII are the stuff of tragedy. I guess that's just another example of the contradictions of Szymek's story.
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Because these days anyone who goes around on their own two feet is nothing but an obstacle to the cars, on the road and everywhere else. Even when you're walking at the side of the road you feel as if all the cars are driving through you.
A book positioned at a time of great change in Europe in which society changed from an agarian-based economy with the land farmed through pretty medieval methods, into an industrial and tech-based one. Szymek Pietruszka, our narrator, thinks about his life and retells a number of stories through an (almost) a stream of consciusness. Plot? There really isn't a lot there to talk about: he is born, he has four brothers, he looks after his disabled brother, he spends time in a hospital, he goes to dances, he serves in the resistance but none of these are retold in any chronological way. Szymek jumps from story to story, interjecting into his rememberings long monologues and philosophical musings. And yet this book works. We are pulled into the mind of this narrator, seeing the world through his eyes, watching his country and his way of life change.
...it's only thanks to our weakness that we're connected to other people, that we recognise ourselves in other people, and they recognise themselves in us. And that's how our human fate is shared. It has room for everyone. In it our humanity is fulfilled. Because we don't exist outside our fate. We belong to human fate through weakness, not strength.
A book positioned at a time of great change in Europe in which society changed from an agarian-based economy with the land farmed through pretty medieval methods, into an industrial and tech-based one. Szymek Pietruszka, our narrator, thinks about his life and retells a number of stories through an (almost) a stream of consciusness. Plot? There really isn't a lot there to talk about: he is born, he has four brothers, he looks after his disabled brother, he spends time in a hospital, he goes to dances, he serves in the resistance but none of these are retold in any chronological way. Szymek jumps from story to story, interjecting into his rememberings long monologues and philosophical musings. And yet this book works. We are pulled into the mind of this narrator, seeing the world through his eyes, watching his country and his way of life change.
...it's only thanks to our weakness that we're connected to other people, that we recognise ourselves in other people, and they recognise themselves in us. And that's how our human fate is shared. It has room for everyone. In it our humanity is fulfilled. Because we don't exist outside our fate. We belong to human fate through weakness, not strength.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No