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A review by sharonleavy
Little Hands Clapping by Dan Rhodes
4.0
How is it possible to read a book that involves cannibalism, suicide, freezing dead bodies, and go "Awwww!!!" when you get to the end?!
I don't know how Dan Rhodes has been off my radar up to now, because this is exactly the type of book I relish finding. It's wonderfully descriptive, it's like nothing I've ever read before, and if it's not adapted into some kind of stop-motion film at some stage I'll be very, very surprised.
The premise is simple, but strange - there is a museum dedicated to suicide (rooms include "Harsh Realities", "Popular Methods", "Tell Tale Signs", "Cults and Pacts" and "Statistics") in Germany that links several people. That's it. Or, it would be - until you dig beneath the surface. The proprietor of the museum was so obsessed with Luciano Pavarotti that she moulded her lover into his double. She started the museum to help suicidal people gain some perspective and change their minds about the course they have chosen to take - and she believes it to be working rather well.
Little does she know what goes on behind the scenes - the curator has a curious arrangement with the local Doctor on how to dispose of the bodies that are left behind after the museum sometimes attracts suicidal people to end their lives there. The curator, Herr Schmidt, "was quite an old man, and his long, grey fingers hung like stalactites from the sleeves of his funereal jacket". He is biding his time until he has enough money to retire. His only other reason for staying in the job is the free cake that Pavarotti's wife brings to their meetings.
The cleaner, Hulda, believes she is destined to go to hell for blasphemy after she cursed God for something that happened to her. Madalena and Mauro, two stunningly beautiful people in their own town, leave for the city together where Madalena realizes that she may be the prettiest girl in a small town - but she is not the belle of the ball in the big city, and Mauro's eye is soon turned. There's the doctor, who "had moved to the city ten years earlier, bringing with him a black labrador called Hans and a heart-stopping tale of tragedy" - it is Hans, the labrador, who eventually brings the story to its natural end.
Throw in a Wiggum-esque cop that repeats latin phrases to himself while looking for the big break in his career that will impress his boss and son; the baker's son who is desperately in love with a woman he can't have, a secret stash of photographs of a particular body part, some amazingly dark humour, and you have one of the most unique, sick, twisted, funny, and individual books I've read since I discovered Neil Gaiman or Tim Burton.
If you like the genre, it's a must-read!
I don't know how Dan Rhodes has been off my radar up to now, because this is exactly the type of book I relish finding. It's wonderfully descriptive, it's like nothing I've ever read before, and if it's not adapted into some kind of stop-motion film at some stage I'll be very, very surprised.
The premise is simple, but strange - there is a museum dedicated to suicide (rooms include "Harsh Realities", "Popular Methods", "Tell Tale Signs", "Cults and Pacts" and "Statistics") in Germany that links several people. That's it. Or, it would be - until you dig beneath the surface. The proprietor of the museum was so obsessed with Luciano Pavarotti that she moulded her lover into his double. She started the museum to help suicidal people gain some perspective and change their minds about the course they have chosen to take - and she believes it to be working rather well.
Little does she know what goes on behind the scenes - the curator has a curious arrangement with the local Doctor on how to dispose of the bodies that are left behind after the museum sometimes attracts suicidal people to end their lives there. The curator, Herr Schmidt, "was quite an old man, and his long, grey fingers hung like stalactites from the sleeves of his funereal jacket". He is biding his time until he has enough money to retire. His only other reason for staying in the job is the free cake that Pavarotti's wife brings to their meetings.
The cleaner, Hulda, believes she is destined to go to hell for blasphemy after she cursed God for something that happened to her. Madalena and Mauro, two stunningly beautiful people in their own town, leave for the city together where Madalena realizes that she may be the prettiest girl in a small town - but she is not the belle of the ball in the big city, and Mauro's eye is soon turned. There's the doctor, who "had moved to the city ten years earlier, bringing with him a black labrador called Hans and a heart-stopping tale of tragedy" - it is Hans, the labrador, who eventually brings the story to its natural end.
Throw in a Wiggum-esque cop that repeats latin phrases to himself while looking for the big break in his career that will impress his boss and son; the baker's son who is desperately in love with a woman he can't have, a secret stash of photographs of a particular body part, some amazingly dark humour, and you have one of the most unique, sick, twisted, funny, and individual books I've read since I discovered Neil Gaiman or Tim Burton.
If you like the genre, it's a must-read!