A Thousand Morons

Quim Monzó is one of the most highly regarded contemporary Catalan authors, who has only recently been recognized in the English speaking world thanks in large part to Open Letter Books, which has published three of his books in translation in the past three years, Gasoline, Guadalajara, and A Thousand Morons. Although he has written several novels, articles and essays, he is best known in Spain and Europe for his short stories, which are generally surreal and comedic works filled with identifiable characters who find themselves in absurd situations, largely of their own doing.

A Thousand Morons, originally published in 2007, is the latest collection of short stories by Monzó to be translated into English. The first portion of the show more book consists of longer works, such as "Mr. Beneset", in which a man visits his somewhat unorthodox father in an old people's home, and "Love Is Eternal", about a man who decides to marry his apparently dying girlfriend, whereas most of the stories in the second part are less than five pages in length, including "Next Month's Blood", where the archangel Gabriel receives a surprise when he tells Mary that God has decided to bless her with a son, and "A Cut", in which a boy with a large neck wound is upbraided by his teacher for interrupting class and spilling blood on the floor.

Monzó excels in portraying an ordinary character in a everyday situation that slowly unfolds into a wickedly surreal one. My favorite was "Saturday", a story about a woman who progressively gets rid of everything was owned by and reminds her of her former husband, but then goes just a bit overboard in the process.

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story collection, and I look forward to reading the other three books by Monzó that I already own. show less

3.4 stars. Short stories that show it takes all kinds... of morons. This thin collection contains short stories and very short stories about all sorts of sad and absurd people. I particularly enjoyed "Mr. Beneset," about a man in an old folks home, and "Praise" about a writer who inadvertently generates problems for himself by mentioning a book he enjoyed.

(There's more on my blog about A Thousand Morons here.)

Despite the charming Barcelona locale, this was an indifferent collection of stories, many which wrestle with the zentih of life: love and mortality share top billing with guilt. Most of the stories are undercooked, more sketches than even glimpses. I felt those stories concerning authors and writing were particularly obnoxious.

Microstories apparently don't suit me.

Very interesting collection of short stories. Many of them are extremely poignant and just a little strange, which is exactly how I like my short stories.

Pues ya puede decir Monzó que es este su libro más divertido, a pesar de mi gusto por sus relatos, es un libro triste pero necesario.

Hi ha de tot. Hi han contes molt bons, alienants, absurds, que s'aturan a parlar de pinzellades breus que ens mostren la solitud, l'angoixa somorta i la estranyesa de tot plegat. N'hi ha també d'oblidables.

He d'admetre, amb molta vergonya per part meva, que és el primer llibre que llegeixo de Quim Monzó. Per tant, no tinc marge per comparar-ho amb els anteriors. Però bé, personalment m'ha decebut bastant. Potser és que el que no m'entusiasma és l'estil general de Monzó, però per saber si és això n'hauré de llegir un altre. Ja ho provaré.

Però bé, ara com ara, i centrant-me en Mil Cretins, la gran majoria de contes m'han semblat insulsos, insípids, sense imaginació, sobretot els cinc o sis últims. I el que potser és pitjor: en la majoria he passat de pàgina cap al següent sense gairebé res que em fes reflexionar, que em despertés el més mínim sentiment: ni alegria, ni tristesa.... excepte potser alguns dels que show more parlen dels avis i de la seva vida a la residència. Però bé, potser els contes de Monzó són així i no ho sé. A veure què tal el proper! show less