Hanna'yı Korumak

by Miha Mazzini, Ruhiye Erulaş (Translator)

"Bunca yılı nefret içinde geçirdiğimi fark ettim. Ama şimdi, ilk defa, başka bir şey bulmuştum, nefretin tam tersiydi, sevgiydi bu..."

Hanna'yı Korumak'ın bilinmeyen anlatıcısı, Berlinli bir çeteye mensuptur ve bu çeteyi ailesi olarak görmektedir. Ailenin reisi Maestro, onun vasisi gibidir; ona borçların toplanması, kirli işlerin yapılması gibi görevler verir. Ama bu seferki görevi bambaşkadır ve onu daha önce deneyimlemediği duygulara gömecektir.

Görevi, bir suçun tek görgü şahidini, güzeller güzeli fakat biraz da tuhaf olan Hanna Wyoczik'i çıkacağı mahkemeye kadar korumaktır. Bunun için de bir hafta boyunca Hanna ile yaşaması gerekmektedir. Fakat daha önce hiçbir insanla, hele ki bir kadınla, beş dakikadan fazla süren bir ilişkisi olmadığından dolayı Hanna ile zaman geçirdikçe sosyal hayatın dayanılmaz olduğu kanısına varır. Ancak Hanna'yı korurken sergilediği cesur, nüktedan tavır ile birlikte çok geçmeden gönlünü Hanna'ya kaptırdığını fark eder...

Aşk, onu bambaşka birisine dönüştürmüş; şiddetten arınan ruhunu sevgiyle temizlemeye başlamıştır. Artık o eski çete adamı değildir. Tek bir amacı vardır: Hanna'yı Korumak. Miha Mazzini, basit sahneleri anlamlı bir kara komedi romanına çeviriyor. Ruhu şiddetle dolu bir çete adamının aşkla evcilleşme serüvenini göreceğiniz, insani duygularla örülü harika bir roman sizleri bekliyor...

Genres: Novels, Fiction

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

* 32 books published in 12 languages
* Short stories selected for many anthologies including Pushcart Prize 2011
* Screenwriter of 2 award-winning feature films (Golden Palm for the best film of the XXII Mostra de Valencia, European CIRCOM Award for the Best TV Film of 1992)
* Writer and director of 5 short films (Best director award at the Highgate Film Festival in London, best short film of 2011 at the Slovenian film festival)
* MA in Creative Writing for Film and Television, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
* PhD in Anthropology of Everyday Life, Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, Slovenia

Reviews

[miyopastronot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çok iyi bir başlangıç yapıp, ortalara doğru bocalayan; finaliyle batırıp bir hışımla televizyonu kapattığınız ya da sinema salonundan çıkarken "Buna mı para verdim?" diye söylendiğiniz ortalama bir Hollywood aksiyon filmi gibiydi, Hanna'yı Beklerken.
Tek fark bunun bir kitap olması. Sloven edebiyatı üstelik. İlginç.

Adını dahi bilmediğimiz esas adamı sevdim. Ama sayfalar ilerledikçe başlarda sıra dışı gelen bu karakter biraz sıradanlaştı. Konu bazen su gibi aktı, bazen yolunu bulamadı.
3-4 puan arasında gidip gelmemin nedeni bu sanırım. Eğer beklentimin üzerinde bir final olsaydı, gözümü kırpmadan 5 puanı verirdim herhalde.

Neyse 3 yeterli, susun.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! The protagonist is dangerous: creepy, violent, a murderer. However, his internal dialog makes you laugh-out-loud at unexpected times. His complicated yet fragile nature evokes pity despite his violence. There is an underlying current of Good and Evil - and the reader is left to contemplate whether one exists solely without the other.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great, lots of fun, worth the smallish print and narrow margins; I wouldn't mind seeing more books featuring our nameless hero. It's a very good thing that my friend sent this book to me to borrow, my library and its partners have nothing to offer from this worthy author.

[Danijel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Telesni čuvaj (Miha Mazzini)
- Your Highlight on Page 119 | Location 1820-1821 | Added on Thursday, November 17, 2016 10:37:47 PM

Lahko je biti svetnik v puščavi, peklensko pa v mestu, sredi skušnjav.
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Telesni čuvaj (Miha Mazzini)
- Your Highlight on Page 235 | Location 3600-3601 | Added on Sunday, November 20, 2016 12:55:31 PM

je bil prvi, ki mi je zaupal nalogo. Inšpektor Kurt je govoril o tem, kako težko je postati oče; spomnil sem se okrvavljenega Jezusovega obraza in si rekel, o, kako težko je šele postati sin!
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Telesni čuvaj (Miha Mazzini)
- Your Highlight on Page 307 | Location 4704-4704 | Added on Sunday, November 20, 2016 4:52:35 PM

Bojimo se le tega, kar smo si sposobni predstavljati. Zaupamo lahko v tisto, kar je znotraj naše moči dojemanja.
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[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friend Tammy is responsible for publishing this book in the US. With her help, I was able to meet and talk with the author. If you're looking to gain a different perspective on the world, try reading Miha's books.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot is going on here which is good. There are so many well written moments. I finished this about a week ago and am still trying to figure out if I liked it, which in a weird way says a lot about the book. It was definitely worth the time I spent reading it.

[Divina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite my opinion on the story, this was very well written.

[Bimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sama vsebina me ni navdušila, je pa pripoved odlično napisana.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically pulp-fiction, but that's a plus in my eyes. I rounded up to four stars. It's probably closer to three and a half stars.

I like the character and the ambiguousness of his hideousness. Does he really have a boar's head or is that he's really just extremely repulsive and his facial features point in the general direction of a boar's head. If he really had a boar's head, then we are in the realm of fantasy, which I don't think this book wants to be.

For being such a brute, the nameless protagonist was quite relatable, and I rooted for him every step of the way. I liked his internal monologues and at times they were quite insightful - and humorous.

I also liked Hanna who was so sweet and understanding in the face of all the real and metaphorical ugliness. I rooted for her too.

The narrative, which was basically a gangster book in which the protagonist was one of the boss's goons, and a witness had to be protected, which fell to our (anti) hero. The twist was his hideousness and intelligence and his internal monologues applying that intelligence. How would protector and our sweet Hanna get along?

But there are flaws too. Firstly, I noticed that not all the jokes were all that funny. They weren't offensive, but they just weren't that funny either. I might have chuckled twice at them. Many did not hit their mark. Perhaps the humor was lost in translation.

I also got tired of the protagonist being so sick all the time. I believe that sickness was caused of the loss of his private life and freedom - that he felt caged, and that the sickness wouldn't end until the assignment was over, so it makes sense he got sick. I just got tired of it.

And finally, the book might be a bit too pulpy to be considered serious literature, though it sure had its moments.

I liked the ending. It was relatively strong, dark and hopeless.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a translated version of the story, so I’m not going to judge the language used, sentence structure, etc. Instead, I will be looking at the overall plot and the characters.

Before I’d reached the middle of the story I already felt like I “got it”. A man existing outside of society is now forced to live the most normal life imaginable. He must suppress his urges while also following a new schedule and rule set. Once I understood that, the scenes were a lot less interesting. I was so focused on the meta that I couldn’t just enjoy the interactions between Hanna and the guard. Prior to this understanding, the scenes were great - the one with the narrator in the orphanage starting chaos with the blind kids was absolute gold.

I’m not that good of a reader, so understanding the theme of the story that early, in the midst of reading the book, and accidentally too, was a bit disappointing. It made the book feel simple. I prefer to make this thematic discoveries in hindsight.

The characters were hit and miss. I found Hanna very tangible and believable. The maestro made sense to me. But the bodyguard didn’t work for me. It seemed his uniqueness/appearance mattered a lot more in the beginning (everything was about how different he is) than the end. I get that he changed throughout, but meh; wasn’t for me.

It was also a bit obvious that tony and Alexander were the ones trying to kill Hanna. So the “twist” at the end wasn’t a big surprise.....that the maestro was in on it did shock me, but by then I didn’t really care much.

Funny at times, some modern satire, decent overall plot, meh twist, and hit or miss characters. Although a good read, after the book Crumbs, I was expecting a little more