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missnicolerose 's review for:
Metropole
by Ferenc Karinthy
This started out so promising. I love the premise of a linguist finding himself in a city where he cannot read or understand the spoken language. While I myself am no linguist, I find language fascinating and thought this would be captivating as the main character discovers his path through the city.
Yet, I had to put the book aside halfway through, as nearly 100 pages were just reiterating his repeated failures at making a breakthrough. When I came back to it, I started skimming and reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This continued for the last half of the book and I really don't feel I've missed out on anything.
I understand the Sartre/No Exit-esque type of existential hell this was going for and the communist-era social aspect, both of which I appreciate and admire. But did I enjoy this book? Ultimately, no.
Yet, I had to put the book aside halfway through, as nearly 100 pages were just reiterating his repeated failures at making a breakthrough. When I came back to it, I started skimming and reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This continued for the last half of the book and I really don't feel I've missed out on anything.
I understand the Sartre/No Exit-esque type of existential hell this was going for and the communist-era social aspect, both of which I appreciate and admire. But did I enjoy this book? Ultimately, no.