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A review by elbell1012
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
4.0
This one is tough one to rate. If I'm rating this novel as a whole based on technicalities, it must be a five star book. If I'm rating on my own personal enjoyment, the beginning and end each receive a 5, but the middle is a 3.
My own initial interest in this book was the concept of the clinic of the past, and I would have gladly read a book entirely on that. However, the past leaked out of the clinic and what was before medicinal became in infection on Europe. This lead to, and how could it not, each country choosing its own time to nest in. Politically charged times were reverted to with reignited passion. And while I know that soviet demonstrations and reliving past battles was necessary to the novel to show how backwards this going backwards was, it is not why I had bought this book. The ending, however, was a saving grace. You parting with this novel will not leave you satisfied with a happy ending. You'll close the pages and feel a sense of discomfort or even grief. I know I did as our narrator, once enraptured with finding the past, loses his own memory.
No matter where we find ourselves in this novel, you cannot deny the beautiful praise of Gospodinov. If nothing else, I recommend this book solely for that.
My own initial interest in this book was the concept of the clinic of the past, and I would have gladly read a book entirely on that. However, the past leaked out of the clinic and what was before medicinal became in infection on Europe. This lead to, and how could it not, each country choosing its own time to nest in. Politically charged times were reverted to with reignited passion. And while I know that soviet demonstrations and reliving past battles was necessary to the novel to show how backwards this going backwards was, it is not why I had bought this book. The ending, however, was a saving grace. You parting with this novel will not leave you satisfied with a happy ending. You'll close the pages and feel a sense of discomfort or even grief. I know I did as our narrator, once enraptured with finding the past, loses his own memory.
No matter where we find ourselves in this novel, you cannot deny the beautiful praise of Gospodinov. If nothing else, I recommend this book solely for that.