Unique Item

WARNING:

Just as smoking is bad for your health,
so is the reading of a hundred endings
of the same book.
It is almost like gaining one hundred
deaths instead of one.

This book is described as a delta novel, with the story having a hundred possible endings. The endings were originally published in a separate book, but this English translation has everything in one volume.
An odd book, but odd in a good way, as I did enjoy it, but I was weak and read all the possible endings before choosing the one I liked best. My favourite editing error was 'rubble' for 'rabble'. I'm fairly sure that Pushkin's characters were attacked by an angry mob rather than having a building fall on them!

My favourite ending was number 26, which left Chief Inspector show more Stross with his suspicions about the suspects' degrees of guilt and innocence but no proof.

Erlangen is less guilty than could be concluded from the sentence he received. Distelli is more guilty than he seems, and than can be proven. Lempytzka had to have somebody else behind her as well, but we don't know whom. Klozewitz is the most suspicious of them all, but there is almost no tangible argument against him. show less

Another attempt by Pavić (more known for The Dictionary of the Khazars - book 44 on my list) to redefine, to extend, to twist around, to have a different take, to go against the notion of what is a novel, this time a mystery with 100 possible endings --- the end is up to you. An intriguing and playful story revolving around an androgyne who is a dreamcatcher and possessing an incredible power of smell. Several murders occur in different occasions, an opera singer who last performed as Pushkin (this detail we discover later is crucial) dies, some shady characters pop in and out, through it all the androgyne appears to be the link -- she has caught dreams for those people who, by dreaming dreams from their past life and dreams from after show more their death, forfeit their own present lives.

I found this book more interesting than i expected -- Pavić cleverly interweaves historical detail (the Pushkin part) with myth and fantasy. I was reminded of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita where the Devil came in disguise to wreak havoc on the characters' lives -- there are similarities in this book. I wouldn't be surprised if the idea was Bulgakov-inspired. show less