The Sinistra Zone
Published on 6. September 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-8112-1978-5 (ISBN)
Description
Entering a weird, remote hamlet, Andrei calls himself "a simple wayfarer," but he is in fact highly compromised: he has no identity papers. Taken under the wing of the military zone's commander, Andrei is first assigned to guard the blueberries that supply a nearby bear reserve. He is surrounded by human wrecks, supernatural umbrellas, birds carrying plagues, albino twins.
The bears - and an affair with a married woman - occupy Andrei until his protector is replaced by a new female commander, "a slender creature, quiet,diaphanous, like a dragonfly," and yet an iron-fisted harridan. As things grow ever more alarming, Andrei becomes a "corpse watchman," standing guard over the dead to check for any signs of life, and then ...
The bears - and an affair with a married woman - occupy Andrei until his protector is replaced by a new female commander, "a slender creature, quiet,diaphanous, like a dragonfly," and yet an iron-fisted harridan. As things grow ever more alarming, Andrei becomes a "corpse watchman," standing guard over the dead to check for any signs of life, and then ...
Reviews / Votes
"If there's a magic realism Eastern-bloc style, The Sinistra Zone is surely its paradigm." -- Alison McCulloch - The New York Times Book Review "A fascinating novel that links intense realism with a boundless imagination, as if it could have written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez." -- Die Zeit "The Sinistra Zone begins a la Chandler. But that's not how it continues. Like all good things, it embodies a wealth of possibilities: it can be read as a sociological intelligence briefing; a political/cultural situation report; a supplication; a finely wrought, postmodern feat of literary virtuosity; a chronicle of a bygone world, and so on. Again and again I was amazed by the fullness of the words, by the compact and luminous text - by the rich and powerful fabric that Adam Bodor has woven into these pages." -- Peter Esterhazy "It is hard to find in contemporary European literature a satire more dark and brutal and yet at the same time, more lyrical than this book." -- El Pais "The Sinistra Zone is a small masterpiece of stunning beauty that begs to be savored slowly." -- La VanguardiaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
193 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8112-1978-5 (9780811219785)
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Schweitzer Classification