A slightly strange book about spiritual truths that are hidden in an allegorical story.
The style is partly poem, partly drama, and then parts are told by the protagonist in a way that resembles a novel. Or a novella, maybe, it’s quite a slim book that is quickly read, although it was rather hard to read for me.
As I’m not a native English speaker, the poem parts of the book (which is the majority, I think) required lots of concentration, and often I wasn’t sure what exactly the author meant. Not only because of the style but also because he he likes to use hints and metaphors.
Regarding the content, the book is a parable on the theme of the dark night of the soul that is a part of many spiritual traditions, often symbolised in initiation rituals, too: The seeker must dive down into the deepest abyss of darkness, must die in the sense that he completely gives up and has no desire to live on, to be reborn as an enlightened being. Depending on the tradition, this process also includes the death of the ego, the “I”, the entity that relates the life of a human being to itself. This is also hinted at in the book.
The story is quite brutal, but that fits to show how hard that phase is.
Personally, I think a bit less grandeur and self-importance could have helped to make the book more readable. But still, it’s an interesting experiment that triggered something in me, and when the author publishes more books, I will read them. ( )