This is one the most contemporary, chilling and visionary books that I have read. Think of Orwell's and Huxley's dystopian views, at to these a touch of urbanism and then mix them all up with "Children of Men","12 Monkeys", "The Fifth Element". What do you get? Metropole.The main character, a linguists, gets caught in a context he cannot decode: a densely packed multiracial city where no one speaks the same language, where armed revolutions spring, are suppressed, and are erased from history at the same time. This idea is so contemporary that it rings true, all along. No, this is not the Tokyo of "Lost in Translation", this goes beyond. And, as a matter of fact, unlike dystopian novels, this one is not told in some distant time, but now. Thus, the whole issue becomes not a matter of when, but where. Of course, there is no explanation either, for it is precisely this sense of placelessness ithat the author is trying to evoke. It comes as no surprise than Karingthy is not from one of the most obvious "global cities" like New York or London, but from Budapest a city that has seen its past denied many times, it's history one of trauma (Nazism) after trauma (Communism) pilling up. In that peripherical situation, too affected by the realms of History to do anything about it, with a language that is not shared by any other country, how can you sustain any hope for a common tongue?Go. Buy it. Read it.Now. interesting as an idea, and as a general message - the book grew tedious on me, it isn't easy to read because it pays lots of attention to small details like trying to decode the language of the mysterious country (which sometimes feels like reading a scientific brochure - not interesting for everyone..) - it looks like a kind of nightmarish dream - but it doesn't read like one, at times when it could be dreamy, it is overlogical, and at other times it's illogical, trying to express the hero's loss of nerve, probably... maybe there are some details in the original language that are lost in the translation? i don't really know.. the ending is kind of hastily executed too..
What do You think about Epépé (1970)?
Definitely chilling all the way through, but it lost a lot of energy in the last thirty or so pages.
—Rid
very strange story, but I had to read to the end to find out what happened
—konca
