false 2 0 false false Mon Feb 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 21:11:50 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 23:52:39 -0800 2009
Inconsistent. The best parts of this book are the confessional parts about being a drunk. These parts are sad, funny, entertaining, raw and real. And also very much worth reading.

Much of this book is self-conscious literary cleverness and wankery. Part of this you can, if you are feeling generous, ascribe to the fact that the main character is a translator and failed poet. There are a bunch of 'translated' passages about Trieste that are included in the text. I assume the main character is working on these while he is at the airport. They don't add anything to the book. At all. I am also not totally sure if the complaint letter format works. It doesn't figure in to very much of the text, and where it does, it interrupts more interesting material about the narrator.

Out of the 180 pages in the paperback, only about 50 are really worth reading. And those ones are gems. Whether you have the patience to deal with the rest of the book is up to you. ]]>