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A review by harc
White Shroud by Antanas Škėma
4.0
This was a book my Lithuanian friend got me to read and I have to say, while it was written in a style that I usually despise, I enjoyed this book. I found that the stream of consciousness style lent itself to the chaos of Antanas' mentality throughout the book.
Don't get me wrong, the main character is deplorable in his attitude towards others, the world and himself. There isn't a lot to like about any of the characters, really but they feel very human - I even felt sorry for them at times even though they made bad decisions. Normally, the way they acted or spoke would annoy me in other books but here it works.
The book itself has some really nicely written prose that I shared with my friend and contained a lot of informational footnotes. I know that annoyed some people but I liked getting little nuggets of contextual information that way. Were some of them redundant? Sure, but they didn't take away from my experience of reading the book. I also didn't mind that the book jumped around the timeline either, getting insight to Antanas throughout his life really helped to solidify his character.
I think this book definitely would read a lot better in it's native language, I can't help but feel some nuance is lost by translating it into English. I guess that can't be helped. Regardless, I rate it a solid 4 star!
Don't get me wrong, the main character is deplorable in his attitude towards others, the world and himself. There isn't a lot to like about any of the characters, really but they feel very human - I even felt sorry for them at times even though they made bad decisions. Normally, the way they acted or spoke would annoy me in other books but here it works.
The book itself has some really nicely written prose that I shared with my friend and contained a lot of informational footnotes. I know that annoyed some people but I liked getting little nuggets of contextual information that way. Were some of them redundant? Sure, but they didn't take away from my experience of reading the book. I also didn't mind that the book jumped around the timeline either, getting insight to Antanas throughout his life really helped to solidify his character.
I think this book definitely would read a lot better in it's native language, I can't help but feel some nuance is lost by translating it into English. I guess that can't be helped. Regardless, I rate it a solid 4 star!