The Unconsoled (1995)

Starts off sensibly but slowly devolves into a daydream with the narrative jumping around like episodes in a dream just barely linked together. Geography bends to accommodate the narrative, the characters appear in nonsensical places.
I'm sure you can read it differently but the way I understood it is this single visit to an anonymous European city compresses the whole life of the narrator into a few days. The characters he meets are his friends, family and others that he met throughout his career and also himself at different times of his life and the bizarre events are echoes of real life experiences distorted and exaggerated through time. ( )

It is like experiencing a nightmare filled with frustration and anxiety. It's a interesting, impressionistic work, although I prefer traditional novels, and it does go on too long. ( )

I gave it 3 stars not because it was disappointing, but because it was so challenging. Characters go into ridiculously long monologues that make you want to throttle them. The passive-aggressiveness is so over the top that it is often hilarious. The absurdist tone keeps you on your toes as the plot moves tangentially forward. ( )

I'm baffled as to why I like this book so much. Maybe it's because I was trapped in Surfers Paradise and therefore had no choice. I feel it's his best book but I think it probably isn't.... ( )

DNF ( )