Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Olga Tokarczuk, Flights **** 1/2

We took the ferry from St Ignace to Mackinac Island. After touring the island by horse-drawn carriage, we walked along Main Street perusing the homes and shops. We found the bookstore in the courtyard outside the Lilac Hotel, and of course we went in. We always go to local bookstores. In the general fiction section I came across a book by an author I'd never heard of, advertised as "incomparably original" and "restlessly mercurial." I bought it, and while it sat on my shelf waiting its turn, its author won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Flights is a very impressive book, but I find it hard to describe. The author refers to it as a "constellation novel," meaning that it consists of short fragments that reflect upon each other. The fragments mostly relate to travel and to the preservation of the human body after death. It explores abstract philosophical ideas using concrete language and stories. Like all the best books, it made me feel like I was on the edge of a major revelation, that I was having profound insights that I couldn't quite articulate. Definitely a book to return to.

It's my understanding that each of Olga Tokarczuk's books in very different from the others, so I can't draw any conclusions about her style. I'll have to read another one soon.

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