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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The end of the second story topped the first for me. I couldn’t believe it. My heart hurts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Mj prvi susret s Dašom u čitateljskom smislu. U životu smo se susrele nekoliko puta jer mi je predavala na fakultetu, ali čisto sumnjam da sam ostavila nekakav upečatljiv dojam jer nisam bila baš aktivan i glasan student, uglavnom sam sjedila u zadnjim redovima, šutjela i hvatala bilješke. Vjerujem da postoji knjiga Daše Drndić koja bi mi se mogla svidjeti, ali ovo definitivno nije ta. No hard feelings. I dalje sam veliki fan nje kao osobe jer je zaista bila posebna i osebujna.
dark
reflective
medium-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
Sometimes it takes other smart people to unlock a book you’ve been struggling with, and for me that’s the case with Doppelgänger by Dasa Drndic. In the latest episode of the Republic of Consciousness Prize podcast, the judges discussed the recently announced Republic of Consciousness Prize shortlist, which included Doppelgänger. When Niven Govinden described the novel as making the reader feel “uneasy” everything that frustrated me about the book came into focus.
Doppelgänger is a novel broken up into a short story and novella. The first piece, “Artur and Isabella” is about two septuagenarian’s who meet on New Year’s Eve and have an erotic moment. The story features the most memorable and disturbing hand job in literary history - not so much because it’s between old people but because of the vile things Isabella says to Artur while she’s jerking him off. This aside, “Artur and Isabella” is a grim story about past sins.
The novella-length “Pupi”, is less about old people having sex and more about Printz, a broken man, suffering from mental health issues, who hates his brother and sister-n-law, whose mother was an obese opera singer and whose father was a chemist and maybe a spy. The tragedy of Printz is that despite his intelligence he’s never realised his potential. As a consequence he is pathetic and unlikeable, muttering all manner of rambling shit at museums and living in a hole at the zoo amongst the rhinos. It’s a difficult story to read, though it’s punctuated by moments of sheer brilliance including a tangent about the communist leanings of Foucault and his teacher Althusser. I didn’t like the story. I found it a grind. But I also now realise that’s the intent of the piece, Drndic wants you to feel unsettled and dirty, to feel revolted by Printz’s singular attitude to the world. The link between the two stories is silverware owned by both Printz and Isabella.
This is not the sort of fiction I particularly gravitate toward, at least not this unrelentingly miserable and caustic. But now that the book is unlocked I can appreciate Doppelgänger on its own terms.
Doppelgänger is a novel broken up into a short story and novella. The first piece, “Artur and Isabella” is about two septuagenarian’s who meet on New Year’s Eve and have an erotic moment. The story features the most memorable and disturbing hand job in literary history - not so much because it’s between old people but because of the vile things Isabella says to Artur while she’s jerking him off. This aside, “Artur and Isabella” is a grim story about past sins.
The novella-length “Pupi”, is less about old people having sex and more about Printz, a broken man, suffering from mental health issues, who hates his brother and sister-n-law, whose mother was an obese opera singer and whose father was a chemist and maybe a spy. The tragedy of Printz is that despite his intelligence he’s never realised his potential. As a consequence he is pathetic and unlikeable, muttering all manner of rambling shit at museums and living in a hole at the zoo amongst the rhinos. It’s a difficult story to read, though it’s punctuated by moments of sheer brilliance including a tangent about the communist leanings of Foucault and his teacher Althusser. I didn’t like the story. I found it a grind. But I also now realise that’s the intent of the piece, Drndic wants you to feel unsettled and dirty, to feel revolted by Printz’s singular attitude to the world. The link between the two stories is silverware owned by both Printz and Isabella.
This is not the sort of fiction I particularly gravitate toward, at least not this unrelentingly miserable and caustic. But now that the book is unlocked I can appreciate Doppelgänger on its own terms.
tense
fast-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
extremely strange. I liked Arthur and Isabella’s story better, but it was still bizarre
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
1. first page was description of man shitting himself and getting an erection
2. i didn't expect postmodernist style of writing and i wasn't in a mood to engage with it
2. i didn't expect postmodernist style of writing and i wasn't in a mood to engage with it
2.5
Loved loved loved "Artur and Isabella," but "Pupi" made me feel like ripping out my eyes. And, seeing as the first story is 40 pages while the latter is 110ish, thus I feel like a 2-star rating makes sense even though "Artur and Isabella" genuinely feels unforgettable. Love Drndić's style. It feels like Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller and Samuel Beckett yet feels distinct. She exhumes bodies; her comma splices are like rusty shovels. How can anyone not feel like an alienated mess when the last century (and our current one) are filled with such historical degradation and grotesqueness and monstrosity that one must feel some weight upon their shoulders. And here that "one" is the elderly. So intrigued to read more.
Loved loved loved "Artur and Isabella," but "Pupi" made me feel like ripping out my eyes. And, seeing as the first story is 40 pages while the latter is 110ish, thus I feel like a 2-star rating makes sense even though "Artur and Isabella" genuinely feels unforgettable. Love Drndić's style. It feels like Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller and Samuel Beckett yet feels distinct. She exhumes bodies; her comma splices are like rusty shovels. How can anyone not feel like an alienated mess when the last century (and our current one) are filled with such historical degradation and grotesqueness and monstrosity that one must feel some weight upon their shoulders. And here that "one" is the elderly. So intrigued to read more.