Vile. Repugnant. Putrid. Disturbing. Depraved.All words that describe my experience with this Lithuanian novel, which I received through LT's Early Reviewer program. I was excited when this book came in the mail, because I enjoy reading fiction from other parts of the world - they always have a different perspective on things, and since I am 1/4th Latvian, I thought "Huzzah! A book by a neighbor!" and eagerly cracked it open when it arrived.I lasted 100 pages. One hundred pages where I slogged, fell asleep and had to re-read, complained to anyone near me, and often felt ill at the disgusting imagery used throughout the narrative. But before I get to that, I'll talk about the book in general. The main character is paranoid, seemingly due to his experiences during the war where he was tortured. The narrative is from a first-person perspective and very difficult to follow and understand, primarily because it follows a stream-of-consciousness format where we're treated to the present, the past, and random observations all at the same time. Fair enough - books have been written this way in the past and succeeded. Evidently around page 300, the narration shifts from the main character to several other characters' first person perspectives, wherein the reader can try and make sense of the events of the story through multiple eyes. I didn't make it that far.I read 50 pages and stopped. The main character had engaged in sexual acts four times, and while I'm not a prude, they weren't exactly written in an appealing way, nor were they described with erotic language. Instead, it was base, disjointed, sometimes violent, and degrading. I gave the story another 50 pages, and had to stop. Yes, I know that the main character experienced horrendous things during the war, but is that really any reason why the author needs to portray women as nothing more than a pair of breasts and a "va-jay-jay" on legs? The MC constantly pictures the women around him naked, even as they sit on the couch and have a conversation with him (whereupon he'll begin talking about her as just a naked body). He fantastizes about their breasts and sleeping with these women, in degrading terms that don't refer to them as people, more like "damp, wet places"... And we're treated to some of the most vile imagery about his own anatomy. I won't repeat some of the worst ones here, simply because I am dismayed at reading it myself and the imagery will now stay in my mind for all time. I don't want to subject someone else to that, but I will say, one of the more putrid descriptions involves a man's private parts, a woman's private parts, and cockroaches. Yes, that's right. It's absolutely sickening.The misogyny in this book, as well as its depraved imagery, is astounding. I am amazed that anyone could get past it and read the entire thing. It's a real shame, as it was something I had been looking forward to. Please, do not read this book. There are many other wonderful pieces of world literature out there... I have high hopes that this is not representative of all Lithuanian authors.
Show lessVile. Repugnant. Putrid. Disturbing. Depraved.All words that describe my experience with this Lithuanian novel, which I received through LT's Early Reviewer program. I was excited when this book came in the mail, because I enjoy reading fiction from other parts of the world - they always have a different perspective on things, and since I am 1/4th Latvian, I thought "Huzzah! A book by a neighbor!" and eagerly cracked it open when it arrived.I lasted 100 pages. One hundred pages where I slogged, fell asleep and had to re-read, complained to anyone near me, and often felt ill at the disgusting imagery used throughout the narrative. But before I get to that, I'll talk about the book in general. The main character is paranoid, seemingly due to his experiences during the war where he was tortured. The narrative is from a first-person perspective and very difficult to follow and understand, primarily because it follows a stream-of-consciousness format where we're treated to the present, the past, and random observations all at the same time. Fair enough - books have been written this way in the past and succeeded. Evidently around page 300, the narration shifts from the main character to several other characters' first person perspectives, wherein the reader can try and make sense of the events of the story through multiple eyes. I didn't make it that far.I read 50 pages and stopped. The main character had engaged in sexual acts four times, and while I'm not a prude, they weren't exactly written in an appealing way, nor were they described with erotic language. Instead, it was base, disjointed, sometimes violent, and degrading. I gave the story another 50 pages, and had to stop. Yes, I know that the main character experienced horrendous things during the war, but is that really any reason why the author needs to portray women as nothing more than a pair of breasts and a "va-jay-jay" on legs? The MC constantly pictures the women around him naked, even as they sit on the couch and have a conversation with him (whereupon he'll begin talking about her as just a naked body). He fantastizes about their breasts and sleeping with these women, in degrading terms that don't refer to them as people, more like "damp, wet places"... And we're treated to some of the most vile imagery about his own anatomy. I won't repeat some of the worst ones here, simply because I am dismayed at reading it myself and the imagery will now stay in my mind for all time. I don't want to subject someone else to that, but I will say, one of the more putrid descriptions involves a man's private parts, a woman's private parts, and cockroaches. Yes, that's right. It's absolutely sickening.The misogyny in this book, as well as its depraved imagery, is astounding. I am amazed that anyone could get past it and read the entire thing. It's a real shame, as it was something I had been looking forward to. Please, do not read this book. There are many other wonderful pieces of world literature out there... I have high hopes that this is not representative of all Lithuanian authors.
Read more...
