What a strange book! This is the first in my personal challenge to read one translated author for every letter in the alphabet. Letter A complete!
Spoilers:
An amateur entomologist and full-time teacher decides to take a trip to a very sandy, dune-y area to seek out a unique beetle. Get his name on it. The buses have stopped running so he needs a place to stay. There are concerns in the village that he might be from the government. He's asked twice and finally convinces the local cabal of aged old men that he is, in fact, not a govvie. Too bad.
He is offered a place to stay for the night, in a decrepit house deep in a hole in the sand/dunes. The lady of the house welcomes him, cooks for him, keeps mentioning how things will change in a few days. "But, dear lady, I'm only here for the night."
Six-plus months later, he's still there.
At its root, this is a kidnap story, a story of someone with Stockholm syndrome. He escapes once, and the action of him getting away, or attempting to get away, from the locals is quite well written. My heart was beating for him and I was cheering him on. Alas, he was caught.
Months go by. He and the woman form a home, and she gets pregnant. A couple months in she has some bleeding, and a village veterinarian is worried about her and tells the cabal to lower the rope ladder (which brought the man into the hole months ago) to get her out, for a hospital visit. They leave the ladder. The man climbs up. Will he finally escape while everyone else is worried about the woman? No, he descends back into the hole, ready for his woman to return (will she?) so they can continue their nightly work. Horrible.
Spoilers done.
The writing was great. But the story? Meh. 3.5 stars.
Indeed sounds like a strange one. Wish the man had escaped. A bit haunting I imagine. I like this reading challenge of yours. How do you find titles of translated works?
ReplyDeleteThis started with me wanting to read a shelf of my local library, like Phyllis Rose. Then my wife suggested I do something a bit different. So I thought one author per alphabet, then as I was looking through the stacks, this one came up. I already challenge myself every year to read 10 translated books, figured, what the heck? Why not 26?
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