I really thought this was a great story. The opening paragraph, clearly foretelling what might be coming in the conclusion, seems to be forgotten with the appearance of the American soldier. The brutality of the final short paragraph really took me by surprise, but when I looked at the first paragraph again, I thought, "Oh, of course." Quite a lot in this short collection is like that. It really is an incredible style where he zooms in and zooms out on particular ideas, so it all holds together well, but still gives a lot of good twists and turns. It's a shame they are so horrifying. Hope you are well Sal!
Thanks Deb. A lot of the books I read can be quite dour and difficult, but I try to keep a balance, for my own sake, with more lighthearted work, lighter subjects. Soon after this book I read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, a fun crime thriller. (Review coming soon-ish.)
It has been the most difficult book of 2024. But it is in keeping with the war theme of my TBR for this year. You would imagine with all of our world history to learn from, we wouldn't do anything as stupid as starting another war, with all we know about how awful it is. But wars continue.
Hello Cristina, I'm not sure if I did the story justice. There is something really peculiar with the opening paragraph, and how it leads to the inevitable closing paragraph. Borowski was a very talented writer, it is really a shame he took his life so young.
Grant, there's no doubt that you subtly underlined at the beginning, in just the right way, even with your facial expression, what is achieved at the end. If it depends on how you read, you could easily make audiobooks.
