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A review by anusha_reads
White Nights by Urszula Honek
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
BOOK 13: WHITE NIGHTS, URSZULA HONEK, Tr. KATE WEBSTER, LONGLISTED FOR #INTERNATIONALBOOKER2024
I'm awed by this brilliant piece of work. It could have been a novel, but it's a collection of short stories. There are thirteen interconnected stories. All the stories are rather gloomy, either depicting death, before or after. The lives of people in a small town surrounded by nature and forest are explored.
The end is the funeral, as it is in this book.
The relationships are confusing, and the narrative is rather detached; it projects a kind of restlessness and was probably created to have this effect.
Like a camera zooming into the lives of a few people and zooming out, things happen around a person in one story, but this same person pops up in a different story of another person, too.
To understand it better, it needs a reread!
The translation is flawless, and the approach is very different.
Some quotes to get the feel of the content:
"SURE, YOU CAN'T ALWAYS HAVE A GRIN ON YOUR FACE, BUT - AND PLEASE DON'T TELL NO ONE - I LAUGH SOMETIMES AT FUNERALS TOO. WHEN I SEE A SHRIVELLED-UP CORPSE IN HER BEST DRESS, I KNOW THAT UNDER THAT STIFF CRÊPE SHE'S WEARING HER PRETTIEST KNICKERS THAT WERE HANGING AROUND IN HER WARDROBE FOR A GOOD THIRTY YEARS. NOT FOR HER HUSBAND, BUT FOR DEATH."
"PROBABLY A FLASH OF LIGHTNING GOT HER, LIKE A STRAY BULLET. BUT WHERE SHE'D BEEN HIT IS ANYONE'S GUESS. IT'S A FAIRLY QUICK DEATH, BECAUSE WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES, YOU PROBABLY DON'T FEEL A THING, OR ONLY FOR A MOMENT. ISN'T THAT WHAT PEOPLE THINK?"
I'm awed by this brilliant piece of work. It could have been a novel, but it's a collection of short stories. There are thirteen interconnected stories. All the stories are rather gloomy, either depicting death, before or after. The lives of people in a small town surrounded by nature and forest are explored.
The end is the funeral, as it is in this book.
The relationships are confusing, and the narrative is rather detached; it projects a kind of restlessness and was probably created to have this effect.
Like a camera zooming into the lives of a few people and zooming out, things happen around a person in one story, but this same person pops up in a different story of another person, too.
To understand it better, it needs a reread!
The translation is flawless, and the approach is very different.
Some quotes to get the feel of the content:
"SURE, YOU CAN'T ALWAYS HAVE A GRIN ON YOUR FACE, BUT - AND PLEASE DON'T TELL NO ONE - I LAUGH SOMETIMES AT FUNERALS TOO. WHEN I SEE A SHRIVELLED-UP CORPSE IN HER BEST DRESS, I KNOW THAT UNDER THAT STIFF CRÊPE SHE'S WEARING HER PRETTIEST KNICKERS THAT WERE HANGING AROUND IN HER WARDROBE FOR A GOOD THIRTY YEARS. NOT FOR HER HUSBAND, BUT FOR DEATH."
"PROBABLY A FLASH OF LIGHTNING GOT HER, LIKE A STRAY BULLET. BUT WHERE SHE'D BEEN HIT IS ANYONE'S GUESS. IT'S A FAIRLY QUICK DEATH, BECAUSE WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES, YOU PROBABLY DON'T FEEL A THING, OR ONLY FOR A MOMENT. ISN'T THAT WHAT PEOPLE THINK?"