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Jon Steinhagen

Autor/a de The Hanging Artist

3 obres 30 Membres 3 Ressenyes

Obres de Jon Steinhagen

The Hanging Artist (2019) 27 exemplars

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The works of Franz Kafka eschew logic for bafflement, to create a sense of realist incomprehension.

And this book, which imagines the man himself as a character in a story worthy of both Kafka and Agatha Christie, is pitch perfect in creating that sense of skewed reality. Things shift in and out of sense, characters appear and disappear, and the shadows are filled with machinations.

It's confusing, but at the same time thrilling. I loved it. I loved the pace and rhythm, the dialog and characters, the playful engagement with Kafka's work and his life. It's a juggling act that never falters, and it was satisfying to the end.

Bravo!
… (més)
 
Marcat
JimDR | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Dec 7, 2022 |
‘Franz Kafka awoke from a dream and assumed that what had felt to be real had also been a dream, but he was mistaken, and he didn’t know how to feel about that.’

A deliciously surreal trip into a truly Kafkaesque world, and I totally was hooked from the first page. The year is 1924 and, on his deathbed with tuberculosis, Franz Kafka awakes the next morning in the sanitorium to find that he is completely healthy. An odd state of affairs indeed, as no doctor or family come in to his room that morning to see how he is doing. Instead, who does appear is a giant insect named Gregor, the incarnation of the central character from Kafka’s most famous work, The Metamorphosis. Struggling to come to terms with this rather bizarre turn of events, Kafka is then visited by a mysterious character called Inspector Beide from an organisation called the ICPC which is investigating a series of murders, 23 victims in total so far. Oh, and Beide has the habit of changing genders, from male to female and back again, at any given moment and totally outwith his/her ability to control it.

The plot is totally surreal; there are moments of wonderful comedy and the exchanges between Kafka and Beide, and between Kafka and the insect, are laugh out loud funny at times. As the plot develops it becomes almost Kafka-meets-Poe as Kafka, having been asked to investigate the deaths, closes in on the truth. But, in terms of what we are reading, what the heck is this thing called ‘truth’? The book is littered with characters, objects, scenes that will just leave your mind boggling: the pair of nuns who keep appearing on a train, one of them eating walnuts; the book Kafka buys in a bookshop entitled ‘How Not to be a Successful Detective’; references to Kafka’s own story A Hunger Artist, which may or may not have some connection to what we are reading… And so it goes on. You don’t really need to have any prior knowledge of Kafka’s works to enjoy this, but some awareness of the general themes and ideas are probably advisable. But then, the main reason for picking this up is because it piqued your interest, right?

Cosy crime novel, or Golden Age crime novel, this is not. Nor is it noir - Scandi, Tartan or any other hue. It just, well, is. Half way through the book Inspector Beide declares:
‘I think we’re on the right track, or at least we’re on a track that could be parallel to the right track. At any rate, we’re on a track, and we’ve learned so much.’

Expect the unexpected, open your mind and just go with the flow. I totally loved this and it left me, with an ending that is actually quite moving, not only thinking about dreams and reality, about the absurdity of life, but also about the moments we should cherish and savour. Unlike anything else I’ve read for a long time, and totally deserving of 5 stars.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Alan.M | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jun 5, 2019 |
I am strangely intrugued but on the other hand giant cockroaches
 
Marcat
Litrvixen | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jun 23, 2022 |

Estadístiques

Obres
3
Membres
30
Popularitat
#449,942
Valoració
5.0
Ressenyes
3
ISBN
4
Llengües
1