Anamarija's Reviews > Carnival

"So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me
From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you"
(Cleopatra, The Lumineers)

This novel reminded me of these lyrics from The Lumineers's song Cleopatra where Cleopatra, after a life spent being late for everything truly important for her, spends her days driving a taxi. A woman who seems worn out, finds her peace in roaming the streets and talking to strangers in whom she notices those small details which remind her of something long lost.
The image of a taxi driver, always on the move, not constrained by anything or anyone, with his or her car as a faithful sidekick.



Fly, the protagonist of this novel, is a lonely character who, despite having a handful of important people in his life, has spent his entire life feeling like the other. Besides being an immigrant, he was born in a circus and that only reinforced the feeling of not fitting in the "normal" society.

Fly does something similar to Cleopatra: he "flies" around an unknown city. The only thing we know about it is the fact that a famous carnival takes place there. People whose faces and intentions appear to be hidden underneath masks and costumes. Not only masks and costumes characteristic of a carnival, but also those masks mundane people wear in order to hide themselves and to fit better in the masquarade we call life. Life seen and lived as a carnival where people perform their roles, sometimes to entertain, sometimes to induct fear, sometimes to provoke destiny, just to be remembered:

“People live their lives thinking that they are forgotten, and that is why we do the most outrageous things, so as not to go unnoticed”

Fly's intentions seem to be the complete opposite: he goes through life behaving in a rather neutral manner, as if he were an observer, a witness and sarcastically intelligent commentator of the events, people and beliefs. Apparently, he believes in nothing than in the law of nature which corresponds perfectly to the nickname he has appointed to himself. A fly - an insect usually despised by people which nevertheless finds its way through life, and is often found near garbage. Similarly, Fly has a lot to do with people from the lower pores of the society, the others: drug dealers, prostitutes, people rejected by the society and people who reject society and its imposed norms. Basically, he is in contact with this human carnival every day.

"Is there anything on earth or in heaven more potent than a good dose of mockery and laughter?"

Written in 5 acts, as if it were a modern day tragedy, this collection of experiences, a kaleidoscope of important episodes from Fly's life, retells the tragic comedy of our existence. Those who follow their ideals seem to finish crushed under a heavy boot of a society which lack the ability to understand and accept them and their ideas. In that sense, Otto really becomes a clown, assuming completely the role he performs when wearing a clown mask during his missions as a vigilante; a clown mocked by the society - similar to Shakespearean Fool - who decides that he will have the final word.

"“Violence and resistance are the only answer. Empire has to feel pain or it will never stop devouring you. It is only when a gun is put in a person’s face that anything changes. All empires are hungry cannibals...”

The novel finishes in the same tone it follows the adventures of our protagonist taxi driver: he flies into his future on another one of his magic carpets into a battle he is yet to discover. There is something magic-realism-like in the final mythical scene: Fly evolves into something higher, he is definitely far from being a fly, he is more of a phoenix buring up and being born for a new life.