Martin M. Simecka
Autore di Year of the Frog: A Novel
Sull'Autore
Opere di Martin M. Simecka
Etichette
Informazioni generali
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Statistiche
- Opere
- 6
- Utenti
- 82
- Popolarità
- #220,761
- Voto
- 3.4
- Recensioni
- 4
- ISBN
- 8
- Lingue
- 3
- Preferito da
- 1
This story by Czech writer Martin Šimečka is set about a decade before the fall of communism and follows Milan, barred from university because of a dissident father, in his struggle to find meaning and identity in his life. His days are filled with unskilled jobs he doesn't really want, a passion for cross-country running and his relationship with an almost unbelievably perfect girlfriend, Tania.
There are moments in this book that astonished me with how real they seemed. Milan's anguish about a patient dying, the sensation of being punched in the gut when you suddenly wonder about a partner's fidelity, all these resonated within me more than most books have managed. Had the entire book maintained that level, this would have been a 4½ or 5 star book.
Unfortunately, these were little gems set into a story that had no real spark. For all the pseudo-philosophizing Milan does—and I don't fault the author for that; it seems like what a young man would do—I was left with a sentiment of, "and so?" As a reader, I felt I was being led to some powerful vantage point from which to look at life, relationships, communism...I don't know, something, anything...and, yet, the spark never happened and the moment was lost.
I'm ambivalent.… (altro)