Reviews

The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

rbreade's review

Is it a short story collection or a novel? I now tend to think of it as a novel, though that's a tenuous decision, at best. With Schulz, forget pigeon-holing. He thought of the book as an autobiographical narrative, the unnamed narrator a Schulz stand-in mythologizing the small town of Drogobych--then in southeastern Poland, now in Ukraine by the magic of partition--via the most marvelous language ever caught between the pages of a book. With this complex, Latinate, super-heated language--yes, he locates his narrator-self in the rare-almost-to-unique-viewpoint that combines first person and omniscience--Schulz remakes Drogobych, utterly erasing the boundary between the real and the imagined: the two so interpenetrate that eventually one gives up trying to keep them separate. It's not the plot, it's not the characters--though the mock-heroic, wildly eccentric father commands center stage--it's the language. Schulz is the Prospero of fiction, creating worlds from words.

szyszanka's review against another edition

inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

wyczytana's review against another edition

3.0

po wielu latach równie zagmatwana i wciąż rozumiana z dużą rezerwą na metafory i domysły 2,75/5

zuzia_piekarska's review against another edition

4.0

nic nie rozumiem ale buja, dobrze ze na maturze nie bylo

chaffinch_22's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mankamon's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

jagodasbooks's review against another edition

1.0

school read

micahcastle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

jackfairy_'s review against another edition

3.0

pięknie napisane ale olaboga kobiety w tej książce... i w ogóle postrzeganie i interpretacja świata. widać że facet jest autorem

tomasz99's review against another edition

5.0

Tytułowe opowiadanie - absolutne arcydzieło, odpływałem podczas lektury.
Skuszony, przeczytałem cały zbiór. I trochę się rozczarowałem. Niby
"magia", niby ten sam świat. Niby ten wspaniały język. Ale to jednak nie "Sklepy Cynamonowe". Trochę szkoda. Stąd 9/10.

Mimo to klasyka godna absolutnego polecenia. Każdy powinien się zapoznać choć z tym jednym sztandarowym opowiadaniem.