His books are published only under his last name, Balla; but Vladimír Balla is the best author to come out of the Slovak Republic since its founding. His books are published only under his last name, Balla; but Vladimír Balla is the best author to come out of the Slovak Republic since its founding. In the Name of the Father and Other Stories contains one novelette (the title story) and three short stories -- all of which are excellent. Their wild sense of humor reminds me of Bohumil Hrabal, the Czech writer, but Balla tends to be a bit darker.
In the title story of the collection, we have a father, wife, and two sons -- all unnamed -- who live in a ramshackle house and whose family is slowly going to pieces. The father does not care for his wife (who dies during the story) and his sons. He is more intent on romancing his co-workers at the office.
Typical of his sense of humor is the story "Contagion," in which a man cannot put up with his furniture; so he gets rid of it. Ditto, the carpets, Ditto, the wallpaper. Eventually even the walls of his house begin to bother him. And then:
I hit the road. It wasn't a comfortable life but I had no choice. At first I would spend the night at railway stations and in barns, but later I found it impossible to rest, since after a few minutes an unspeakable sound, a chorus of whispering phantoms would rouse me from my sleep and I would find myself surrounded by multitudes of exact copies of myself and couldn't stay there any longer, not even for a moment, and felt compelled to press my hands to my ears and stagger out into the night.
I never fail to be amazed by the high quality of literature coming out of central and eastern Europe. ...more
It's always interesting to follow a main character who acts outside the normal established rules of conduct, especially someone like Patricia HighsmitIt's always interesting to follow a main character who acts outside the normal established rules of conduct, especially someone like Patricia Highsmith's anti-heroic Tom Ripley. What Highsmith adds to the situation is a Hitchcockian sense of humor as Ripley is bombarded by visits and telephone calls after he has bludgeoned to death an American businessman who threatened to expose his role in an art forgery ring.
Curiously, Ripley is far more forgiving of Chris Greenleaf, the brother of Dickie whom Ripley had murdered in The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Bernard Tufts, a mentally unstable painter who was also in on the forgery ring and whom I myself would have considered murdering.
The more Highsmith I read, the more I appreciate her. The Ripley novels are great fun, and I look forward to reading the remaining three in the series....more
Are you up for a satire on helicopter Moms written in France way back in 1953? Boris Vian's Heartsnatcher is just that. Psychoanalyst Timortis (Timor Are you up for a satire on helicopter Moms written in France way back in 1953? Boris Vian's Heartsnatcher is just that. Psychoanalyst Timortis (Timor Mortis, get it?) arrives in a small French village and arrives at a house where a Mom, Clementine, gives birth to triplets. One upshot is that she gives her husband walking papers for having caused her so much misery, so he leaves. Timortis stays, but without bedroom privileges.
It took a while for me to get into the strange world of this book, but I began to enjoy it after about fifty pages in. The village is a strange one, where one person is deputed to pick up garbage with his teeth; pigs and horses are severely punished for fornication; and apprentices are routinely mistreated by their masters. Old folks are auctioned off cheap. There is even a gala fight between the vicar and his curate, whom he accuses of being the devil.
Clementine becomes increasingly frightened of what accidents and illnesses can befall her beloved triplets, so she becomes more and more extreme -- while the children, on the other hand, are doing just fine.
This is Vian's last book, and it's a pretty good one....more
This short monologue makes me think that , with his one-act plays, Anton Chekhov invented the sitcom.This short monologue makes me think that , with his one-act plays, Anton Chekhov invented the sitcom....more
In this funny one-act play, Anton Chekhov takes on the corporate world. The play is named after the 15th anniversary of a bank, during a celebration wIn this funny one-act play, Anton Chekhov takes on the corporate world. The play is named after the 15th anniversary of a bank, during a celebration when everything seems to go wrong, from the annoying young wife of the chairman of the board to an intrusive woman who demands that the bank make good for a claim she made on the War Department to the snapping of the patience of the bank clerk who is preparing the chairman's speech. The Anniversary is similar in its effect to The Wedding, another one act classic....more
A hilarious one-act play by Anton Chekhov, The Wedding: A Scene in One Act tells of a wedding reception put on by some untalented social climbers. In A hilarious one-act play by Anton Chekhov, The Wedding: A Scene in One Act tells of a wedding reception put on by some untalented social climbers. In their insistence of getting a real live general to attend the reception, they wind up with a retired naval commander, who proceeds to bore everyone by droning on about ships and shipping....more
This strange humorous book takes as its subjects two young British women who go to volunteer their services in Gabriele D'Annunzio's little fascist ciThis strange humorous book takes as its subjects two young British women who go to volunteer their services in Gabriele D'Annunzio's little fascist city state on the Adriatic. Except in this book he is called Virgilio Vittore. Robert Aickman finished this novel in 1975 but did not publish it during his lifetime. Go Back at Once maintains its sense of humor throughout, even when Vittore's city/state is savaged by an insurrection. We don't even see the Duce of Trino until he climbs aboard a lifeboat when his yacht is blown up.
The scenes in Britain are all right, but the story becomes more interesting when Cressida and Vivien are in Vittore's strange city....more
This is a fictionalized autobiography of the son of a well-known Hollywood actor George O'Brien, who starred in F W Murnau's Sunrise, a number of 1930This is a fictionalized autobiography of the son of a well-known Hollywood actor George O'Brien, who starred in F W Murnau's Sunrise, a number of 1930s Westerns, and a number of small parts in John Ford's later Westerns. What Darcy O'Brien brings to A Way of Life, Like Any Other is a sparkling sense of humor,not to mention a grown-up feeling of forgiveness for one's parents and their foibles.
There are dozens of Hollywood novels, but few with such a light touch as this one. You might say it is the exact opposite of Mommie Dearest and other tell-all assassination jobs by the scions of famous actors. This is a book that will make you smile most of the time, and laugh uproariously in about a dozen places....more
Perhaps the main problem with the novel is that it lacks a focus. We see several different characters take the limelight at various points. It was not a mistake that Southern was to make again....more
Charles Portis's Masters of Atlantis is a wryly funny look at an esoteric quasi-spiritual order called the Order of Gnomons supposedly founded by PletCharles Portis's Masters of Atlantis is a wryly funny look at an esoteric quasi-spiritual order called the Order of Gnomons supposedly founded by Pletho Pappus (who may or may not appear in the book) and Lamar Jimmerson. The book starts with Jimmerson and brings in several people influenced by him, notably Sydney Hen and Austin Popper. We see the Order over the decades as it becomes even less relevant and ratty around the edges. Especially when it moves to La Coma, Texas.
I fell in love with the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett ever since I read Feet of Clay in 1998. I had hoped that Pratchett would continue to writeI fell in love with the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett ever since I read Feet of Clay in 1998. I had hoped that Pratchett would continue to write these hilarious works of comic fantasy for decades to come. Alas, around 2007, Sir Terry was diagnosed with Alzheimer 's. The Truth, although published in 2000, was at times interesting, but at times rather muddied.
The Truth covers the creation of a newspaper (The Ankh-Morpork Times), the first in the city's long history. The scion of a noble family, William de Worde serves as the editor, with the assistance of the lovely Sacharissa, and, using a printing press run by dwarves and a freelance photographer who happens to be an abstaining vampire, shakes Ankh-Morpork to the core.
The earlier Discworld novels are much better, however. I will probably not seek out any more of the later titles....more
Around the time Charles Portis died in 2020, a writer called him the best little-known novelist in America. Now that I have read four of his five noveAround the time Charles Portis died in 2020, a writer called him the best little-known novelist in America. Now that I have read four of his five novels, of which Norwood is the first, I am inclined to agree. He is best known for True Grit, which was turned into a movie twice. A native of Arkansas, Portis wrote novels that were fun to read -- in the same way that Mark Twain's books were fun to read.
Norwood Pratt is owed a $70 debt by a fellow ex=Marine, so he decides to go to New York to collect the debt. On the way, he runs into a number of picaresque adventures, such as losing his fancy boots while riding a boxcar. He arrives in New York only to find that his friend left for Arkansas two days before. On the road back, he picks up a girlfriend, a circus midget, and a trained chicken.
I first read Terry Southern's The Magic Christian back in the 1960s, when I found myself loving the book's raucous humor. Today, I still laugh at Guy I first read Terry Southern's The Magic Christian back in the 1960s, when I found myself loving the book's raucous humor. Today, I still laugh at Guy Grand's japes, such as distributing a million dollars as $100 bills in a giant cauldron of boiling excrement and watching desperate onlookers try to retrieve them.
Today, I think of Grand's stunts in the light of Elon Musk spending $44 billion for Twitter and running it into the ground. In other words, his sense of humor is way too expensive. You don't want to have to consult with your accountant before pulling off your next prank....more
Mikhail Zoshchenko's The Galosh: And Other Stories is a series of humorous sketches of everyday Soviet life, mostly during the 1920s and 1930s. DuringMikhail Zoshchenko's The Galosh: And Other Stories is a series of humorous sketches of everyday Soviet life, mostly during the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, when Zoshchenko was at his best, he was more popular than writers like Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn.
The typical sketches is only 2-3 pages in length and written in a simple, colloquial style. The quality is similar to the best equivalent short sketches in The New Yorker magazine....more
P.G.Wodehouse is one of those writers (Georges Simenon is another) who are able to write large amounts of fiction that remain interesting throughout tP.G.Wodehouse is one of those writers (Georges Simenon is another) who are able to write large amounts of fiction that remain interesting throughout their entire career. The Girl in Blue is one of the comic master's last works, yet it remains as fresh as his earlier Jeeves and Blandings stories.
The title refers to a miniature by Gainsborough that is he pride and joy of solicitor Willoughby Scrope. When the lawyer leaves the office for a few days, he returns to find the painting not in its rightful place. Suspicion falls on Bernadette "Barney" Clayborne, who has indulged in shoplifting in her native New York.
Most of the characters gravitate toward a resort hotel at Mellingham, which is run by Scrope's brother Crispin. Willoughby badly wants to recover his art work and broadly promises rewards all around to get it back. And that's where it all begins.
As usual, all ends well for everyone but the local constable, who is pushed into a brook while soaking his feet by the rambunctious Barney....more
Another interesting Gervase Fen mystery from Edmund Crispin. Love Lies Bleeding is marked by an extremely complicated dénouement in which Fen explainsAnother interesting Gervase Fen mystery from Edmund Crispin. Love Lies Bleeding is marked by an extremely complicated dénouement in which Fen explains his conclusions about a series of crimes (three murders, a disappeared schoolgirl, missing sulfuric acid from the biology storeroom) at an exclusive boys' school at Castrevenford.
Two of the murder victims were on the school teaching staff; the other was an old woman who discovered some interesting old papers hidden in her Elizabethan thatched cottage. It seems as if it's all too complicated for Fen and the local police superintendent, but then it all comes together in a rush....more
Vladimir Voinovich's The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union is both amusing and informative on the subject of life in Russia during the last days of the Soviet Vladimir Voinovich's The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union is both amusing and informative on the subject of life in Russia during the last days of the Soviet Union. In 1974, the author was drummed out of the Soviet Writer's Union and, a few years later, was forced to emigrate. This book is a collection of essays and articles -- mostly with a humorous slant -- about life in Russia and the literary scene.
Typical is his description of how Soviet authors were urged to write:
Be quiet, lie low, obey your superiors. If you can't write about the secretaries of the district or provincial committees, factory managers or kolkhoz [collective farm] chairmen, then write about Young Communists, Pioneers [Scouts], nature, the police, the working class, and write in the proper spirit; be boring and optimistic, and everything will go well for you: we'll publish your book, give you a free vacation, pay your hospital costs, and, before you know it, you'll have made it to your pension!
The Anti-Soviet Soviet Union is a fun book to read and a good introduction to life under Brezhnev and Gorbachev.
I particularly enjoyed Voinovich's treatment of writers such as Konstantin Simonov, Ilya Selvinsky, and Konstantin Fedin. Voinovich calls these men and others like him "The Zombies of Soviet Literature."...more
I had always heard of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge but delayed so long in reading it that I was unduly influenced by what I had heard. So, now when I had always heard of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge but delayed so long in reading it that I was unduly influenced by what I had heard. So, now when I finally turned to reading the book, I was unpleasantly surprised by how flimsy it was. After all, it took Gore Vidal only a month to complete it.
What disturbed me was that I guessed the truth about Myra/Myron long before the author revealed it. I guess that what was so shocking 50-60 years ago comes across as pretty tame today. The book was well enough written, but relied too much on its shock value when it was first published....more
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