Si ce livre se veut etre un exercice de style, je n aime pas ce style! ( )

Great dustjacket design by Janet Halverson.

Such an extremely odd book. Not sure how to describe it. Definitely not a fun, pleasant read, and in parts it was boring. That said, however, I'm glad I read it, and on some level I found it absolutely fascinating. It's about an ex-soccer goalie and former construction worker who wanders around Austria with little explanation or purpose. Early in the novel, he murders someone for no apparent reason. The thing that I found most fascinating about the novella was the narration: the narrator appears to be omniscient, but the voice really follows only the main character, and is very selective about what it says. In some parts it goes into extensive detail, and in others it is incredibly vague. The language is deceptively simple, perhaps matching the vocabulary with that of the uneducated goalie. The only time he is able to articulate himself effectively is when he talks about soccer. The ending is unusual, and going out on a limb here (and this isn't a spoiler), I think it tells the reader not to overthink things--which most readers have probably done if they've made it to the end. A very existential book. Recommended for its narrative technique, but not for the story. ( )