I loved this book, just really loved it. The characters were all very interesting and the overlap of the pieces of their lives was brilliantly done. ( )

I wrote a review (of sorts) on my blog: http://beachedlibrarian.com/2010/01/26/nikolski-by-nicolas-dickner/ ( )

A light and fluffy book about people whose lives almost intersect. While I found it pleasant enough to read, I felt that it was one of those books where the author was being 'clever'. There wasn't sufficient depth to any of the characters to make me care very much about it. I have no idea how it got on my 'to be read' list....maybe the Canadian connection. ( )

Like its cover, Nikolski is one quirky and playful book. Noah, Joyce, and an unnamed person are connected through their relation to Jonas Doucet, who was last seen in Nikolski in the Aleutian Islands. Through most of the novel they all live in the same neighbourhood of Montreal, but they only know each other tangentially. Nikolski is all about connections and separations.

What I liked: Nikolski is very different from anything I've read before, although there was something in the writing style that reminded me of Douglas Coupland--and then I read in an interview that Dickner is a great admired of Coupland and was inspired by his novels. (one point for me!)

Dickner makes heavy use of some interesting and unusual motifs, including nomads, islands, Moby Dick, fish and floods, garbage and archaeology, indigenous people and pirates, to name just a few. I look forward to rereading the book at some point and spotting more of these.

What I didn't like: This book was a quick and easy read, but I found it too disjointed, which is not something I dislike in books very often. Also, the characters were too static and lacking in development; however, this book has been called a fairy tale, in which case lack of character depth would be expected.

Recommended for: the original French version of this book won slews of awards, and the English translation won Canada Reads. I really can't see everyone in Canada reading this book. If you like very jumbled quirky books though, give it a try. ( )

Excellent. Loved it. A narrative that skitters around, touching down on explanations and descriptions, then takes flight again and moves on, without sentiment for the telling detail. Marvelous. Chose the book after it won the CBC radio program “Canada Reads”. This one must have deserved its win, just from sheer originality and freshness of voice. ( )