Peter Esterhazy
2003
Around 850 pages
I had absolutely no problem flying through Blonde which had a similar page count, but slogged through this one. So it's not about length, it's about the motion of the ocean. Or, you know, pacing. Oh well, at least we got to hang out in Hungary for a little bit.
In Book One, we get 371 paragraphs, and then Book Two, we get a more traditional family story. It's a sprawling work, and much like Wild Swans, we get a comprehensive history lesson about a country in flux. It feels more like fragments than a complete work, but the scope is so huge that it's kind of inevitable it wouldn't feel like too tidy.
So yes, it was one of those impressive novels that is absolutely exhausting to read. It wasn't my style, but I was still awed by the breadth of it, even if the humor didn't land for me. Great title by the way.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Esterhazy's works have been translated into more than 20 languages.
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