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A review by owlishone
Satantango by László Krasznahorkai
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I didn’t enjoy this as much as the other book I’ve read by this author, Seiobo There Below. By midway through, this just felt bleak, bleak, bleak . . . with no sense of purpose. Since Seiobo There Below is really a series of short stories, the payoff occurs immediately, within each chapter. In this, the payoff comes at the end. There is a purpose here; the book is worth reading. The second half is more gratifying than the first half, and the last few chapters are fascinating. I do feel that much of this book might have made more sense to me if I had been more familiar with the region described (Central Europe/Hungary, mid-20th century, I think). There is a sense of more meaning embedded in the text which I simply can’t access. This is to be expected, I suppose, to a greater or lesser extent with any book, but especially with a translated book from a region of the world which one starts out knowing next to nothing about.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism