#45 Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk
Booker Prize: WINNER INTERNATIONAL BOOKER 2018
Plot Time and Place: 17th-century Netherlands, 18th-century Austria, 19th-century Paris and Warsaw, Present-day Croatia
Opening sentence: "I'm a few years old. I'm sitting on the window sill, surrounded by strewn toys and toppled-over block towers and dolls with bulging eyes."
Plot summary: From the 17th century, we have the story of the Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen, who dissected and drew pictures of his own amputated leg. From the 18th century, we have the story of an African-born slave turned Austrian courtier stuffed and put on display after his death. In the 19th century, we follow Chopin's heart as it makes the covert journey from Paris to Warsaw. In the present, we have the story of a young husband whose wife and child mysteriously vanish on a holiday on a Croatian island.
(from the cover of Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Review: I liked Tokarczuk's other book, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, better.
This one does not have a linear narrative, or much of a story. It's more like a series of small vignettes about travel, belonging, the human body. It has some interesting thoughts, but on the whole it was difficult to get through.
Rating: 3/5
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