Lenka S. reviewed on 2/2/2021 + 822 more book reviews

Who wants to spend two hours of their lives reading a chapter about a man sitting in his apartment doing nothing for three summer months. Day 1 nothing, day 5 nothing, 45 nothing. *** It is equally satisfying to read a story about a young girl, who is not very bright, and who is trying to protect her premature retarded baby whose head was damaged during birth, by the doctors. *** A story about 17 century pirate captain who has created the first theatrical company in history, which resulted in mayhem and maiming of his crew due to misunderstanding, of what is theatrical performance and what is real life. *** Then there is the remarkable story of a girl addicted to magical earphones. Those earphones create music that resonate in the soul. Without the earphones she has severe withdrawal symptoms. *** There is a businessman who is struggling to smuggle old ancient paintings out of Russia, right under the noses of the secret service. He seems to fail. The painter then burns all his masterpieces, which were marked worthless by the secret police and not worthy of export. The one masterpiece, that was smuggled out, crumbled to dust because the materials were of inferior quality. *** There is a man who does not know what to do with his life. He cannot find meaning in life, and so he little by little trains himself to believe in the Bible and all it teachers. He did then requests a sanctuary to live out the rest of his days in a spare room in a church.

All this is just a sample of the stories included in this book. Though the stories are very well written, and real life like, they are not featuring characters, that one would wish to spend any length of time with. So unless you are in the mood to read depressing, mundane, Uneventful non-stories, this is a book for you.

Now don't get me wrong, this is great piece of literature. There is a great literally value in the stories, and high quality writing. The stories are as I said are very lifelike, and will transport you into the dreadful lives they are presenting. So if you enjoy difficult or thoughtful writing (like Tolstoys Anna Karenina) this might be the right book for you. Just make sure that you are in the right mood/mindset for reading this sort of dark/depressing literature, because even if you enjoy difficult reading and are not in the mood, this book will leave you with a sour taste and short temper

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