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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This is the first book that I have read by this author. For a long time, I have had "I Served the King of England" on my wish list. I saw this book on sale and bought it as a substitute, and glad to have read it. I enjoyed this book a lot and found it more humorous than I anticipated from a translation. Uncle Pepin is a wonderful character, and the stories he relates are the kind you wish your own uncle would have told you, for e.g....
"And so Adolf had no luck in life, once he was passing this pub, and some drunken dentists were there, and they invited Adolf for a drink, and when he'd had some and was glad folks were being nice to him again, all of a sudden one dentist in a drunken stupor pulled out another dentist's front teeth, and seeing as Adolf was drunk too, the one that pulled out the front teeth took Adolf and pulled out all of his back teeth, mind you Adolf was dead lucky there was no drunken gelders around that night..."
The run-on sentences and lack of periods in punctuation are common in the book...not sure if that's a result of the translation, or the Czech, or just Hrabal's writing style. This took a bit of getting used to...
This book has been made into a movie, and I found it available for streaming on the Internet. Alas, it is in Czech and there are no subtitles, but watching just a bit led me to believe that it is true to the story line.
"And so Adolf had no luck in life, once he was passing this pub, and some drunken dentists were there, and they invited Adolf for a drink, and when he'd had some and was glad folks were being nice to him again, all of a sudden one dentist in a drunken stupor pulled out another dentist's front teeth, and seeing as Adolf was drunk too, the one that pulled out the front teeth took Adolf and pulled out all of his back teeth, mind you Adolf was dead lucky there was no drunken gelders around that night..."
The run-on sentences and lack of periods in punctuation are common in the book...not sure if that's a result of the translation, or the Czech, or just Hrabal's writing style. This took a bit of getting used to...
This book has been made into a movie, and I found it available for streaming on the Internet. Alas, it is in Czech and there are no subtitles, but watching just a bit led me to believe that it is true to the story line.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
literary fiction, classic/20th century, themes of family dynamics/societal changes/nostalgic reflections on the past, historically contextual read, czech literature/original language: czech
challenging
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
slow-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
So absolutely bizarre in classic Hrabal fashion. I enjoyed Cutting It Short (the first novella in this collection) a lot more than Little Town - Maryska was intriguing and I wanted her story developed further in Little Town. Instead we get Francin and Uncle Pepin’s escapades, which had a slapstick humour I really enjoyed in parts but ultimately felt a bit too convoluted even for me. I find the political subtext of Hrabal’s work absolutely fascinating, and Little Town really delves into that in its second half.
The two novellas in this book bled together for me to the point I had no idea what was going on for a moment and then was slapped into reality by some bizarre plot line. “Cutting It Short” had me wondering where it was possibly going to go and alas, Maryška’s SCANDALOUS behavior was enthralling. Girl, me too. The second novella, “The Town Where Time Stood Still” was slower, ominous, and towards the end it pulled my heart strings.
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated