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lilly71490's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
thechemicaldetective's review against another edition
5.0
This beautiful, surreal novella takes the reader on a dream-like journey to unexpected places. “Big things cast big shadows.”
Every house has a room reserved for the President. The boy narrating the story keeps watch and at first it seems he is rewarded for his vigilance. “When you are little you’re closer to shadows.”
But nobody else notices. “So is something wrong with me?”
A little book that packs a big punch.
Every house has a room reserved for the President. The boy narrating the story keeps watch and at first it seems he is rewarded for his vigilance. “When you are little you’re closer to shadows.”
But nobody else notices. “So is something wrong with me?”
A little book that packs a big punch.
chillcox15's review against another edition
4.0
A brisk dystopian novella about a "mysterious" country (hmm, which could it be based on?) that requires each house to have a room dedicated to the president of the nation, so he can visit any time. Pretty ingenious, especially with the child perspective.
heyitsjeym's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.5
An allegory. Being in a society that unconsciously makes me follow a lot of ridiculous customs and conventions in return of some false privileges, I felt being called out.
birokurgunlugu's review against another edition
4.0
Bir çocuğun gözünden Başkan'ın ve her evde olması zorunlu tutulmuş Başkan'ın odasının çok kısa ve sade bir anlatımı.
Anlatılanlar sadece çocuğun hayal dünyasının ürünü mü ya da ne kadarı böyle yoksa anlattıkları sadece gözlemleri mi oldukça belirsizleşiyor. Hem bu belirsizlikten hem de baskıyı ve ayrımcılığı göze sokmadan sadece arka planda hissettirdiği için çok beğendim.
Anlatılanlar sadece çocuğun hayal dünyasının ürünü mü ya da ne kadarı böyle yoksa anlattıkları sadece gözlemleri mi oldukça belirsizleşiyor. Hem bu belirsizlikten hem de baskıyı ve ayrımcılığı göze sokmadan sadece arka planda hissettirdiği için çok beğendim.
booksnpunks's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. The President’s Room has been described as Romero’s answer to Camus and Kafka. In every house in our unnamed narrators town, families must always keep one room in the house which is reserved for the president. The room must be kept clean and never used for anyone else except for if the president ever decides to visit. No one knows where the tradition started, why or if the president demands the tradition keep going or what happens if he does visit, but these unanswered questions are what lies at the heart of this novel which is all about the allure of the unknown, adulthood, masculinity and the poetics of space.
The unnamed narrator is the middle child of a family who live in a two story house and have the privilege of keeping a tidy and well attended room for the president. The child as narrator is ultimately unreliable and it becomes apparent quickly that through the eyes of this boy we are not going to be given answers to the information clearly held by a lot of the adults around him. For example, the fact that all basements have been banned as a result of a dark tragic event which happened during his grandfathers lifetime - it is a confusing reveal in the novel as we’re given no more information that this but it is clear that there are secrets maybe literally buried underneath the town that only certain generations are allowed to know, and the inability to uncover any of the answers becomes the eventual horror of this little book. The fever which continuously grips the narrator and his brothers that we are given no expansion on, the boys who go missing at the school - what are all these town tragedies and why aren’t they being explained?
Initially my first reaction was that the novel was harnessing a deeply political message giving that its author is Argentine and the country has had its fair share of political upheavals. However the more I read the more I am convinced this book is about masculinity, it’s terrors and the unknowingness of growing up into adult manhood. Consider the descriptions of the presidents face - it is described as large, large bug eyes with a huge nose and a bushy moustache. It made me think of the face of Big Brother from 1984, one of the most well know symbols of anonymous masculine oppression inside of literature. One of the boys who has been visited by the president at the narrators school quickly becomes violent, starting fights and lashing out to anyone who tries to bring it up. And then there is the domineering image of the grandfather that looms over the text just like the president - although the grandfather is dead the narrator continuously imagines he can hear him moving about the house and is haunted by the sounds of his beatings and the hard smack of his grandfathers hand against his skin. The house, although an open, maternal space which is kept in order by the narrators mother, is forever burdened by the president’s room which becomes a symbol of a constant dominating masculine presence where the narrator can never find relief. Like the inevitable burden of adulthood the narrator can never escape the fear of presidents possible visit even inside his supposed safe space.
This book would be brilliant to analyse alongside the poetics of space particularly looking at how the paragraphs are constructed on the page. We are left with so much white space in this novel - perhaps an invitation to make our own space inside the text in which to decode its messages. Yet the novel constantly reinforces the danger of spaces with the fear attached to the presidents room and basements. There is a suggestion then that the white space gifted to us to allow us the room to step with-in the text will only reinforce this anxiety - in other words, trying to unravel the secrets of the novel will reveal its ultimate horror.
I recommend this for fans of Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream - there is the same use of terror through leaving the reader in the dark and a similar sense of unease. I wish there were more books like this but it looks like the majority of them are coming out of Argentina as this novel reminded me of Mariana Enriquez’s short stories too. It is an immensely literary work that I could go on thinking about for days and it’s a true triumph. Romero blows the Camus and Kafka comparisons out of the water with this one as he has created a work which says so much through having so little.
The unnamed narrator is the middle child of a family who live in a two story house and have the privilege of keeping a tidy and well attended room for the president. The child as narrator is ultimately unreliable and it becomes apparent quickly that through the eyes of this boy we are not going to be given answers to the information clearly held by a lot of the adults around him. For example, the fact that all basements have been banned as a result of a dark tragic event which happened during his grandfathers lifetime - it is a confusing reveal in the novel as we’re given no more information that this but it is clear that there are secrets maybe literally buried underneath the town that only certain generations are allowed to know, and the inability to uncover any of the answers becomes the eventual horror of this little book. The fever which continuously grips the narrator and his brothers that we are given no expansion on, the boys who go missing at the school - what are all these town tragedies and why aren’t they being explained?
Initially my first reaction was that the novel was harnessing a deeply political message giving that its author is Argentine and the country has had its fair share of political upheavals. However the more I read the more I am convinced this book is about masculinity, it’s terrors and the unknowingness of growing up into adult manhood. Consider the descriptions of the presidents face - it is described as large, large bug eyes with a huge nose and a bushy moustache. It made me think of the face of Big Brother from 1984, one of the most well know symbols of anonymous masculine oppression inside of literature. One of the boys who has been visited by the president at the narrators school quickly becomes violent, starting fights and lashing out to anyone who tries to bring it up. And then there is the domineering image of the grandfather that looms over the text just like the president - although the grandfather is dead the narrator continuously imagines he can hear him moving about the house and is haunted by the sounds of his beatings and the hard smack of his grandfathers hand against his skin. The house, although an open, maternal space which is kept in order by the narrators mother, is forever burdened by the president’s room which becomes a symbol of a constant dominating masculine presence where the narrator can never find relief. Like the inevitable burden of adulthood the narrator can never escape the fear of presidents possible visit even inside his supposed safe space.
This book would be brilliant to analyse alongside the poetics of space particularly looking at how the paragraphs are constructed on the page. We are left with so much white space in this novel - perhaps an invitation to make our own space inside the text in which to decode its messages. Yet the novel constantly reinforces the danger of spaces with the fear attached to the presidents room and basements. There is a suggestion then that the white space gifted to us to allow us the room to step with-in the text will only reinforce this anxiety - in other words, trying to unravel the secrets of the novel will reveal its ultimate horror.
I recommend this for fans of Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream - there is the same use of terror through leaving the reader in the dark and a similar sense of unease. I wish there were more books like this but it looks like the majority of them are coming out of Argentina as this novel reminded me of Mariana Enriquez’s short stories too. It is an immensely literary work that I could go on thinking about for days and it’s a true triumph. Romero blows the Camus and Kafka comparisons out of the water with this one as he has created a work which says so much through having so little.
pearloz's review against another edition
What an odd little book. Set in--a place?--where every house must have a 'President's Room,' a room for, presumably, the president to visit if he is so inclined; and it's about a boy's obsession with that room. More like a novella--it's a short series of vignettes that read like daily diary entries. About the room, the contents of the room, the president and his subsequent visits, and the climax of the boy's obsession: moving into the room and adopting the mannerisms he witnessed of the president.
cooksbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
The crafting of this sinister liminal space of the presidents room was done so well in so few words. I totally bought into the culture of not talking about the room when it's all you can think about, especially in families without names in a city without a name.