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rosa_eleanor's review against another edition
5.0
Wowwww so blown away by this bizarre and entrancing book! Gothic fiction at its most self-actualised and comedic, thank you Gombrowicz
kate66's review against another edition
4.0
A very strange tale from Witold Gombrowicz. I, like many others, have a penchant for Fitzcarraldo publications because they are rarely boring. In Possessed we have another odd tale from Eastern Europe.
Walczak/Lesczuk (he changes his name few chapters in) has been employed as a tennis coach for rising young star, Maja Ocholowska. Unfortunately the two seem to have a very strange effect on each other from the first time they meet, much to the disgust of Maja's fiance, Cholawicki (secretary to the Prince of Myslocz Castle). The strange relationship continues as both Maja and Lesczuk are drawn to the strange happenings at the castle where the Prince is going mad and Cholawicki is making it worse.
As the story continues we discover that the prince's insanity began when his son, Franio, died in the old kitchen. This old kitchen is somewhere all fear to go because of the effects of the haunted dish towel. Yes, I said dish towel. I told you it was strange.
The story then follows the odd affair between Maja and Lesczuk who seem to both attract and repel each other equally. It is only on their return to the castle that the difficulties can be resolved. But are either of them brave enough to face the spooky tea towel.
Yes it is all very tongue in cheek. All the relationships are very peculiar but the book pulls you along I an almost hypnotic trance. You spend a lot of time wondering what it all means and who Franio really is and why the Prince is so crazy.
I thoroughly enjoyed the craziness and the writing is wonderful. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is a Fitzcarraldo devotee or if you simply would like to read something that is way off the beaten track of normal literature.
Thanks to Netgalley and Fitzcarraldo for the advance copy.
Walczak/Lesczuk (he changes his name few chapters in) has been employed as a tennis coach for rising young star, Maja Ocholowska. Unfortunately the two seem to have a very strange effect on each other from the first time they meet, much to the disgust of Maja's fiance, Cholawicki (secretary to the Prince of Myslocz Castle). The strange relationship continues as both Maja and Lesczuk are drawn to the strange happenings at the castle where the Prince is going mad and Cholawicki is making it worse.
As the story continues we discover that the prince's insanity began when his son, Franio, died in the old kitchen. This old kitchen is somewhere all fear to go because of the effects of the haunted dish towel. Yes, I said dish towel. I told you it was strange.
The story then follows the odd affair between Maja and Lesczuk who seem to both attract and repel each other equally. It is only on their return to the castle that the difficulties can be resolved. But are either of them brave enough to face the spooky tea towel.
Yes it is all very tongue in cheek. All the relationships are very peculiar but the book pulls you along I an almost hypnotic trance. You spend a lot of time wondering what it all means and who Franio really is and why the Prince is so crazy.
I thoroughly enjoyed the craziness and the writing is wonderful. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is a Fitzcarraldo devotee or if you simply would like to read something that is way off the beaten track of normal literature.
Thanks to Netgalley and Fitzcarraldo for the advance copy.
thepoisonwoodreader's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
leniverse's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
vernalequinox's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
orestesfasting's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I only picked this up because it was translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, who does such a remarkable job with Tokarczuk, but the more I read about it the more I realise what a bizarre book it was. Gombrowicz didn’t claim ownership until his deathbed; there were a discovered additional three parts to the novel after his death; he banned the publication of his own novels in Poland despite writing so politically about early 20th c Poland; he is thought to have forged letters to the editor who serialised this demanding the protagonist change his name (and succeeding).
The novel itself is equally baffling. A parody of gothic fiction, but much less melodramatic than, say, Northanger Abbey in its parody and much more simply weird. Doppelgängers abound in a way that feels politically astute, because the gothic house trope is mixed with the “big house” novel, an Irish term which applies to most European traditions of the early 20th c - a novel about a declining aristocracy and reconfiguring class. But here class is reconfigured via the supernatural - is this equality supernatural and uncanny, or is it extreme nature in its magnetism? A novel to return to again and again - one without any clear answers.
The novel itself is equally baffling. A parody of gothic fiction, but much less melodramatic than, say, Northanger Abbey in its parody and much more simply weird. Doppelgängers abound in a way that feels politically astute, because the gothic house trope is mixed with the “big house” novel, an Irish term which applies to most European traditions of the early 20th c - a novel about a declining aristocracy and reconfiguring class. But here class is reconfigured via the supernatural - is this equality supernatural and uncanny, or is it extreme nature in its magnetism? A novel to return to again and again - one without any clear answers.
brenommk's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
elizabthreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
emsemsems's review against another edition
2.0
‘A master of verbal burlesque, a connoisseur of psychological blackmail, Gombrowicz is one of the profoundest of later moderns, with one of the lightest touches.’ — John Updike.
Perhaps a ‘wrong book, wrong time’ for me. The prose is saturated with an undeniable beauty — it fucking glistens with it. But what is beauty without ‘connection’, you know? Wasteful embellishments. I can’t say it lacks substance, because it has substance. The writing just didn’t resonate with me. A shame, personally, because I really thought the beginning quite promising, but the ‘wit’ and the ‘humour’ became a bit repetitive, and didn’t have enough ‘layers’ for me to appreciate (especially) when it comes to a book of this length (to clarify, I gravitate towards books under 200 pages that packs a concrete ‘punch’).
I wanted more sports philosophy and artistic/aesthetic speculation. I didn’t care for ‘whimsy’ romance or whatever that was between the characters. Too much ‘talking’, too much ‘dialogue’ (for me to appreciate fully). I think maybe because I enjoy reading ‘plays’, and I prefer ‘dialogues’ to be more precise, or if that is not possible then at least slightly more ‘succinct’. And because of that, I fail to appreciate whatever Gombrowicz has ‘beautifully’ constructed in his book stylistically? I read this in English, and I’m not interested in discussing literary ‘translation’ with regards to this book because I have very little knowledge about the Polish language? But reading a book written in English, I do have some expectations of it — in terms of the ‘precise’ (not even touching on ‘creativity’ here but just the basic) use of language. My guess is that this might have been a very ‘direct’ translation of the text to English, but to me, it just doesn’t ‘work’ well enough and doesn’t do bits for the ‘story’ at all?
'He was a French eighteenth-century master. And this seat? This is what's known as a Savonarola chair, fifteenth century, one of the world's first armchairs. You should know that in those days even ordinary chairs were almost unheard of. People sat on chests of a kind, like this one splendid, this is Francis the First, or on benches set into the wall, to which tables were brought up. You see, that chest is as early as Gothic. How on earth did these items stray all the way here?’
A few writers that I truly like (especially those who write/have written in more than one language) share a similar sentiment when it comes to the reasons why they choose to write in English — and it often comes down to the flexibility and precision of the language. So I guess what I’m saying is that, using English in such a ‘stiff’ way as I had found it to be in this book, is a bit of a let down (for me personally). Just because it’s generously punctuated with exclamation marks, doesn’t mean it would instantly excite a reader (it could actually be a bit overwhelming actually). I am not moved by chapters that reveal themselves like scenes from a sitcom, I prefer sticking to lines that are (or at least feel) utterly indispensable to the movement of the plot/book in general.
With all that said, I think a different reader with different literary preferences might love this to bits. Not a badly written book by any means, just not one that I like. This reading experience doesn’t change my love for Fitzcarraldo Editions, and I’m (always) thankful for the advanced reading copy of the book. To clarify, I’m also happy to have read this, because this is a writer I’ve been curious about for a while now, and at least now I know how I feel about it.
‘‘How on earth can you sleep like that?! — But she's also sleeping without any care for herself,” he muttered. As if she had no self-respect. As if it were all the same to her if her head were lower than her feet, or vice versa... And yet — ‘She’s sleeping in exactly the same way I do!’’
paeandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A young man named Walchak started working with Maya, a future tennis player, in the isolated countryside. The nearby 170 room castle, owned by an insane prince, a devoted servant, and a diabolical secretary, is naturally haunted. Due to their disparate social classes, Maya and Walchak naturally fall in love as they learn how similar they are to one another and how much they dislike one another. The clue to the prince's insanity is hidden in the castle's haunted room, where a towel that Walchak finds shivering and moving bears the key to the secretary's plot to seize control of the castle. Trials and separations, a brief stay in Warsaw, a helpful clairvoyant who solves the mystery, and finally, the solution but not before a murder.