In/Half

by Jasmin B. Frelih, Jason Blake (Translation)

Imagine a world without the internet. No instant connection, no shared experiences, no comforting hum of online community. This is the reality facing Evan, an addict theatre director, Kras, a family patriarch and ex-war-minister, and Zoja, an anarchist poet—childhood friends navigating the fragmented remains of a global society twenty-five years in the future. As their fiftieth birthdays approach, they find themselves adrift, haunted by lost connections and the erosion of society, grappling with a life lived in/half—half-connected, half-remembered, half-lived.

This dystopian work of literary fiction, reminiscent of novels by David Mitchell or Italo Calvino, offers a sharp social commentary on our hyperconnected world. Written by an innovative and daring new voice, In/Half explores themes of identity, belonging, and the consequences of a world growing apart. Discover the haunting beauty and emotional depth of In/Half and dare to imagine a life stripped of the digital threads that bind us.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Jasmin B. Frelih is the award-winning author of novels The Ice Saints (Beletrina, 2023), Pixels (Beletrina, 2021), and In/Half (Cankarjeva zalozba, 2013), the recipient of the European Union Prize for Literature in 2016; a book of short stories Tiny Ideologies (LUD Literatura, 2015) and a book of essays Pale Freedom (Cankarjeva založba, 2018).

Jasmin is a scholar of literature and history. His prose fiction draws on vast reservoirs of knowledge and a unique heritage, creating complex and original forms to explore ageless themes from new perspectives.

His work has been published in more than ten languages, and he has read to audiences in Tokyo, New Delhi, Prague, Brussels, and London. His writing has appeared in Linkiesta, Lit Hub, Passa Porta, and many publications of his native Slovenia.

Reviews

[Timár_Krisztina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nagyon jól megírt könyv ez, csak egyáltalán nem az én világom. A megírás minősége öt csillag (minden tiszteletem a kiadóé és a fordítóé, hogy bevállalták és elkészítették), az élmény három. Pedig engem ugyan nem szokott zavarni, ha egy regényből a sci-fi vonal szinte teljesen hiányzik, a cselekménye nehezen követhető, ellenben túlteng benne a filozófia.

Hazudnék, ha azt mondanám, hogy egyáltalán nem kötött le. De akkor is, ha azt mondanám, hogy nagyon érdekelt, hova futnak ki az események. A második oldaltól kezdve tudtam, hogy ha kihíváshoz nem kéne (azaz találnék helyette 31-éig másikat, de nem találok, mert zárva a könyvtár), én ezt most szépen félbehagynám. A végére érve viszont tudtam, hogy nincs okom megbánni a döntésemet. Jóval lassabb, figyelmesebb olvasást igényelt volna a szöveg (az én felelősségem, hogy nem voltam hajlandó ennyit rászánni), de azért ilyen sebességgel is elég sok minden átjött belőle. Ami nem, ahhoz jobban kellene ismernem a szlovén klasszikusokat.*

Nagyon nyomasztó, sivár világban, (nagyrészt) kiüresedett kapcsolatokban élő emberek között játszódó posztapokaliptikus disztópia, amelynek talán legijesztőbb vonása, hogy simán el tudom képzelni ilyennek a 2030-as éveket. Még csak azt se lehet mondani, hogy a nagyvárosban esnek szét a személyiségek és a családok, mert a három történetszál közül az egyik a szlovén vidék regénye, egy olyan nagycsalád története, amely nem igazán működik összetartó közösségként. Ez a világábrázolás pedig kiválóan működik - maximum nekem nem tetszik. (Van egyébként olyan disztópia, amit szeretek, csak nem ez. Annak viszont, aki szereti például a Szárnyas fejvadász c. filmet, szerintem be fog jönni.) A filozofikusságot az adja, hogy a szereplők állandóan mérlegre teszik a cselekedeteiket, állandóan felteszik a "miért?" kérdést - ráadásul olyan gyakran kerülnek közvetlen kapcsolatba a halállal, hogy a túlvilági szféra is állandóan jelen van a történetükben.

Ami nem tetszik, és megbocsátani se tudom, az az, hogy a korrektor kb. a harmadik oldalon elaludt. Olyan hibák maradtak benne a szövegben, amelyeket nemhogy a korrektornak észre kellett volna venni: már egy rendesen beállított helyesírás-ellenőrző is kiszűrne. Tág tűrésű lény vagyok, de a "II. Világháború" (azaz hogy pont után automatikusan nagy kezdőbetűt ír a Word, ha be nem idomítják, hogy ne tegye) legalább tizenötször leírva azért kiveri a biztosítékot még nálam is. A "j-ly" tévesztésről nem is szólva.

* Azért olykor elfogott a sanda gyanú, hogy nem minden irodalmi utalás van a helyén a könyvben. Az oké, hogy az egyik nézőpontszereplő mulatótársát Falstaffnak hívják (ez speciel nem szlovén klasszikus, hanem angol), de amúgy azon kívül, hogy szeret kocsmába járni, és gyakran hazudik, sok falstaffosat nem találtam benne. Később is volt néha olyan benyomásom, hogy egyik-másik idézet eléggé öncélú.

[Wojciech Szot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Widziałem najlepsze książki tego roku zapomniane w szaleństwie wydawców, głodne uwagi czytelników, pełne przez nikogo nieprzeczytanych stron, niemieszczące się na półkach księgarń… Naprawdę. Widzę tych książek dziesiątki i setki, a naprawdę jeszcze trudniej z nich wybrać te, które naprawdę warto, które trzeba, bo otwierają jakies nowe perspektywy czy ciekawie opowiadają coś, co wydawałoby się literatura już dawno przerobiła.

Ostatnie lata to moda na opowieści dziejące się w bliższej lub dalszej rzeczywistości. Przeważnie nieudane, wysilone, wydumane, nazbyt przemyślane. Mam ich całą listę, nie daję rady tego czytać, bo ciągle albo ktoś za daleko odjechał, albo znowu za bardzo trzyma się jednak świata, który znamy. Książki o przyszłości przeważnie są programowe, z góry zakładają autorzy i autorki, że opowiedzą nam historię o tym, jak świat się zmienia z naszej winy, jak otwarcie lub zamknięcie (to zależy trochę od opcji politycznych jak i aktualnych sytuacji politycznych) jest dobre/złe, jak klimat… i tak dalej. Bardzo nie lubię w literaturze takiego tępego suflowania mi programu, z którym się zgadzam, ale nie chodzi o to, by czytając klepać się po ramionach w poparciu idei.

Dodajmy do tego, że polski rynek książki jest skupiony wokół przekładów z języka angielskiego, a książek naszych sąsiadów czy krajów “tak jakby słowiańskich” nie znamy za dobrze. I oto jest - “Na pół” Jasmina B. Freliha. Książka, która spełnia wszystkie moje - wygórowane, ja wiem - oczekiwania. Napisał ją pisarz ze Słowenii, opowiada o tym, co nas czeka, ale cofając się też w przeszłość i opisując teraźniejszość, a do tego książkę wydało małe wydawnictwo, Wyszukane. To już powinno zwrócić waszą uwagę na czarno-czerwoną okładkę tej książki.

Zdaniem bohaterów i narratorów tej powieści żyjemy w czasach Wielkiej Kakofonii. Nie jest pewne, kiedy to wszystko się zaczęło, ale kompromis próbuje się wypracować około roku powstania sieci www. Kryzys sprawia, że władzę nad światem przejmuje Japonia, w której roboty rozmawiają z ludźmi, ale na szczęście dla inteligencji czytelnika, wciąż na wiele pytań nie znają odpowiedzi. Frelih nie karmi nas papką science-fiction a całkiem sensowną opowieścią o ewentualnej przyszłości.

Mamy tu trzy historię - uzależnionego od narkotyków reżysera teatralnego, który w Tokio próbuje wystawić sztukę, słoweńskiej, wielopokoleniowej rodziny, której przewodzi były minister, postać co najmniej odrażająca i opowieść o poetce, anarchistce, której wiersze poruszyły tysiące ludzi a na jej występ na freakowym festiwalu na Brooklynie czeka cały - nie tylko kulturalny - lokalny świat.

“Takiego wydarzenia Brooklyn nie widział od czasu, gdy spaliła się Yoko Ono”.

Trzy opowieści prowadzone są naprzemiennie, a do tego wewnątrz są niespójne, jakby były ulepione z pojedynczych scen, niekoniecznie nachodzących na siebie chronologicznie. Trzeba się trochę postarać, by to wszystko zrozumieć i ogarnąć, nie da się “Na pół” czytać jednym duszkiem do herbatki, ale to akurat same pozytywy tej książki.

Frelih opowiada, co jest dość oczywiste w takich książkach, że to, co pozostaje to są potrzeby emocjonalnej wspólnoty - Evan z Tokio pyta o miłość robota, który ma się nim opiekować, wielkie rodzinne spotkanie rodziny Krasów to opowieść o rodzinnym nieszczęściu, które i tak jest lepsze od braku rodziny, poetka-Zoia szuka prawdziwych emocji w sztucznym świecie hipstercelebrytów.

Evan porzuci robota i będzie podróżował przez halucynogenne Tokio, Zoia zostanie zaatakowana po tym jak nago wystąpi przed publicznością, głowa rodziny Krasów gdy znajdzie w rodzinnym domu pornografię, przechodzi do ataku. Na końcu wszyscy się spotkają w jednej taksówce.

“Wszystkie rodziny, wszystkie, szczęśliwe i nieszczęśliwe, mocne lub biedne rodziny, zapomniane, nobilitowane, lekceważone rodziny, bezczelne i zrozpaczone, i chciwe, i piękne rodziny, poważne rodziny, niepoważne rodziny, silne, nic nieznaczące, zamożne, bezbożne i szorstkie, chciwe, również te najbardziej histeryczne rodziny to, jak by nie patrzeć, przede wszystkim odstraszające stado zranionych ludzi”

Z trzech historii najciekawsza była dla mnie ta o rodzinie Wilków, w której są wszyscy - minister wojny, para lesbijek, dzieciaki, rozwodnicy i Alenka, która “pracuje w archiwum i gdy zauważy błąd gramatyczny, pisze gorzkie listy do słoweńskich wydawców”. Jak ja Alenkę od razu polubiłem. I mimo tego, że Frelih całą książkę pisze naprawdę świetnie, to w tych fragment jest uroczym stylistą, podśmiewającym się z Tołstoja i innych wielkich klasyków. Czuć, że podobnie jak narrator, który pisze, że o każdym z członków rodziny Wilk mógłby mówić latami, Frelih o swoich rodakach też mógłby niejedna powieść napisać. Czekam.

Historia rodzinnych traum napisana jak łamigłówka. Zdanie niekiedy się urywają, kolejność akapitów potrafi wyprowadzić z równowagi, niekiedy jest poetycko, filozoficzne, sennie, a chwilami akcja przyspiesza czy dostajemy dialogiem po oczach. Frelih pokazuje, że świat zaczyna nam się już rozpadać, że nadmiar informacji, skrócenie czasu, który poświęcamy na zapoznanie się z nimi, pośpiech i dookolne szaleństwo prowadzą nas w stronę niewyobrażalnego kryzysu. To jest świetne literacko, mądre i naprawdę wciągające. Książka Freliha powoli podbija świat, została już przełożona na kilka języków i dobrze by było, gdybyście ją poznali. Dodam, że to debiut słoweńskiego pisarza.

Dla odważnych czytelników i czytelniczek.

Książkę przełożyła Marlena Gruda i się napracowała w pocie czoła, jak mniemam. Nad książką mam patronat, podobnie jak nad innymi z serii wydawnictwa Wyszukane - bardzo wam polecam, każda z nich to opowieść o świecie, która wnosi coś nowego do naszych głów.

[Antonomasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

[2.5] In/Half is described as being set 25 years in the future, but too much of it reads as if it were written 25 years in the past.

The current blurb gives the impression of a story in which Millenials find themselves hit by the breakdown of the internet when they are middle-aged. Which sounds pretty intriguing.

It is twenty-five years into the future, and a glitch in the global communications network is ripping a previously united world apart at the seams. The millennials find themselves hardest hit ... As they prepare to celebrate their fiftieth birthdays, the three [main characters] find themselves hurtling through a disconnected world filled with the debris of past histories...
(blurb 2 months pre-release)

But what we actually have here is a novel set in 2036,in a world where the internet shut down on 17th December 2011 (a premise which, if offered upfront, would set reader expectations more fairly). The book was written when the author was 25, in 2011, and first published, in Slovenia, in 2013.

I don’t think it helps, either, to associate this story in the English-speaking market with the word ‘Millenials’. These three characters have little to do with the sets of traits, opinions and interests which, in the 2018 Anglosphere, are associated with Millenials. They pass more convincingly for Boomers from UK and US novels written in the 1970s-1990s (and by no means do they always act like 50-year-olds). Perhaps they don’t resemble Millenials-as-we-now-know-them because they didn’t experience the last 7 years of the internet. But there isn’t very much looking back to the time of the internet that would connect them with the idea ‘Millenials’. And, whether it’s due to different cultures in Slovenia and the UK, the influence of novels the author read, the degree of change in social attitudes between 2011-2018, or all three, there are a lot of ways in which the characters don’t have much in common with the sort of UK/US Millenials likely to pick up translated literary fiction.

So I think the blurb could really do with a rewrite. I spent most of the first half of the book feeling like it wasn’t doing what it says on the tin, that it was, to paraphrase Updike’s rules of reviewing, failing to achieve what it attempted to do. But that was actually down to blurb, and authors don’t write blurb - nor did Frelih set out to create those expectations when he was writing the novel six or seven years ago.

90% of In/Half comprises three sets of three chapters about the three main characters: first there is a chapter about Evan Z--, then one about Kras Wolf, and finally one about Zoja, and this sequence repeats three times. The chapters are consistent in length, each taking up about 10% of the book.

The chapters about Evan, an arsehole of a theatre director and junkie who has, for some reason, been invited to spend a year staging a play in Japan, read as if they were written in the 90s by a fan of Martin Amis and cyberpunk. Evan’s ill-treatment of his girlfriend, and the character of his agent and drug dealer, who glories in the name Gordon Falstaff, sometimes made me feel like I was reading a parody of a certain type of later twentieth century novel. (But at least there were a few intriguing, strange and original bits and pieces, like Evan’s dentist wife who wore one of his teeth as if it were a locket, and the artificial rain.) The prose is entirely competent but doesn’t fizz like that of Amis fils.

Alongside the egotistical, objectionable middle-aged male writer/artist-character (how much time have I spent reading about these over the last 25 years?), another well-known staple of litfic is the reunion of a fractious, feuding upper / middle-class family. And this is the basis for the second strand of chapters, about former government minister Kras Wolf and the many relatives who gather for his 50th birthday party. The first chapter about them didn’t really grab me, but in the second and especially the third instalments about them, they grew more intriguing, to the extent that I thought a longer piece of writing would have done the characters more justice, showing their relationships and personalities over decades – and with more detail on how the changing conditions they had lived through had affected each of them. (And I really wanted to know how Kras’ aged father had got into modern druidry whilst living in a totalitarian-sounding south-east European state with no internet.) In the space available here, there wasn’t enough space to flesh them out, and they ended up largely as sketches, but they were still interesting enough collectively to help transcend the occasional eyerollingly daft porny scenario of a sort that often turned up in later twentieth-century litfic, like a 17-year old voyeur spying on his considerably older lesbian half-sister and her partner in bed … and a while after being caught, apparently getting a handjob from the partner.

The chapters about New York-based anarchist performance poet Zoja (whom I imagined looking like a composite of Patti Smith and Eileen Myles) could have contained more about her – the bulk of the writing was about the local scene and the people she knew. I found what I read of Zoja very likeable, and there was a lot hinted at that wasn’t explored. The character of Anwar underground for years after his family were killed in a purge was an interesting digression, at least. The scene sounds like all the articles about Brooklyn hipsters circa 2010. It’s 2036 and they still haven’t moved on from Brooklyn. Facial hair is still in for men. There’s even a record-collecting craze, although the last record player "died in 2027".

I was surprised by In/Half's similarities to British and American fiction, not something that I usually find obvious in translated novels. However, there must also be some Slovenian and other influences going on that I couldn’t pick up on, and which may enable a deeper appreciation of the book in people who know the place - beyond my own assumption that it is implicitly addressing the legacy of the former-Yugoslav wars of the 90s (in which Slovenia itself barely took part). This seemed nearest the surface in the arresting poetic repetition of a litany of death towards the end of the third chapter about Kras.

In/Half, despite its flaws, contains some great passages of writing. There are a few gorgeous landscape descriptions, and I found it hilarious on the two occasions when Evan got his comeuppance for offending well-connected Japanese people. My favourite bit of the novel was 40% in, where these features both occur within a couple of pages.

Most of the book is in perfectly decent literary-fiction prose, but this wasn’t hugely engaging when combined with certain other aspects of the book: lack of detail on many characters, general sense of datedness, and passages of cod-philosophical reflection. A few of these musings I found very wise, although much of it is the sort of stuff that may seem profound when one is aged 15 or 25, but less so by 40.

The social attitudes are markedly un-Millenial, and, whilst I understand Slovenia is slightly more conservative than the UK, and that this would have formed the backdrop to the writing, I don’t think In/Half fits in too well as a 2018 English-language literary publication by a young European, of interest to under-40s. (The translation must have been commissioned a couple of years ago, so the extent to which this would be the case, after the #metoo movement, would have been hard to see.) It only really discusses a resurgence of social conservatism on one issue - porn - and the rest of the time it seems simply to reproduce the attitudes of older novels in the way it gives a lot space to sexist and arrogant and/or disturbed male characters. There are descriptive asides in the narrative that manage to invoke most well-known discriminatory -isms or -phobias at one point or another. (One one occasion, different attitudes in close-3rd person narratives demonstrate that Zoja’s views are not the same as those of an acquaintance of hers, but otherwise these sentences often read as if they belong to a more distant omniscient 3rd person narrative.) It’s been pretty well hashed out by now in Anglo media that there are ways to show a reactionary fictional society whilst narrating in a way that reflects attitudes common among progressive young educated people. I think the book suffers, in a way that the author couldn’t have forseen, from the ‘woke’ shift among many likely UK and US readers between 2011-2018. And besides, these days, if people want to hear about dysfunctional personalities in the arts and politics, they only need to look at a news site to see stories that feel even weirder than fiction, because of their reframing of individuals and offices the public thought they knew about. It is frustrating that so recent a book hasn’t aged well, but perhaps recent-past work is especially prone to that, because one assumes it will still feel recent only a few years later. If something is a couple of decades old, it’s more contexualised. (However, an English language translation also makes the book accessible to readers in many other countries across the world, including places where these underlying attitudes won't seem out of step.)

This isn’t genre dystopian fantasy with the expectations that carries, but regardless of this being literary SFF, I found the world-building too vague and hint-based. (And with this summer being what it is, the occasional complaints about weather being too hot just felt normal… The future is already here.) I think a lot of the skill and work in imagining convincing near-future worlds is in giving a convincing picture of the political and social situation, and in creating a sense of strangeness with different trends, items and technologies from the present. In the novel’s typical literary focus on individual human drama, these got little space. Several big logistical issues were totally ignored. Outlines of political developments were tantalisingly incomplete. (Part of the point of this dystopian scenario is that people have less access to information, but the main characters are a high-ranking politician and famous creatives who travel internationally, people who would obviously know more than average.)

I was reminded of articles a few years ago which described how authors struggled to incorporate widespread internet use into novels, resulting in the popularity of tricks by which it could be ignored, such as having protagonists move to remote cottages, or setting stories in the past. I wondered if this was another, especially given the similarities to older novels. But the background to the internet switch-off, The Cut, is explained in detail. (Going to spoiler tag this as it’s some way into the book, but I’d have liked to have known it much earlier, and it doesn’t spoil the rest of the plot. Communication services were expected to be endangered by massive sunspot activity, and governments worldwide decided not to do anything to try and protect systems from it, in order to quell the ‘Great Cacophony’of social media.)

During most of the second half, I was sure I’d be rounding my rating up to 3 stars. The final chapter changed my mind. I couldn’t believe it actually shows the three old friends reunited on a mystical plane after death. Two of them appear to be in some kind of dream, not actually dead, but generally this scenario is right up there with the big corny popular fiction clichés. In the scene, the three of them also talk like a bunch of twentysomethings. A really good editor could have got some big changes made in the original here.

I wondered how much of the tone of the writing was created single-handedly by the translator, and how much it reflects the original. It looks like this is Blake's first publication of a whole novel, after translating non-fiction and short stories. It generally feels very well done, and natural without falling into the clichés of work originally in English, but the missed opportunity evident in the phrase “this Adórkus dolt” jolted me into awareness of other possibilities that must have have existed during the translation process. (The scene in question is even in America.)

At least one other reviewer suggests that In/Half may connect better with younger people rather than with those of us nearing, or in, middle age. I would think that might be the case mostly because average twentysomethings haven’t read as many old litfic novels that have trodden similar ground, and therefore may not be bored by the prospect of some of these scenarios. (It will also be interesting to read opinions on this book from other people who have read a lot of this sort of thing, and hear what they got out of it that I missed.)

Oneworld have published some of my favourite books of recent years, including The Sellout by Paul Beatty, and Vodolazkin’s Laurus, and I’m still keen to see what they bring out next - although of course, as this review shows, not every book from a publisher is to any one reader’s taste.

There is more than enough here to suggest that Frelih will produce good stuff in the future and develop further as a writer - even if this book has some issues typical of a first novel (apparent influence of older authors, trying to fit too much in) and hasn’t had the luckiest of timing in its English publication.

I received a free advance review copy from Netgalley and the publisher, Oneworld.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a relatively long time to sink comfortably into the rhythms of this novel. One needs to be comfortable, for a time, with not having a very good idea at all about what's going on. The story is set in the near future, after a cataclysm has rendered electronic connectivity impossible. Stories of three characters are presented here, in an appealing mix of surreal and grubby. Coincidences and connections didn't always make sense to me but after a while I didn't worry about it--I was just swept into a world where I was happy to spend the time it took to read this novel...and like all good speculative fiction this novel gave me plenty of food for thought.

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recensione apparsa su Leggere Distopico e Fantascienza Oggi!

A\Metà – titolo originale “Na/pol” - ha permesso allo scrittore sloveno Jasmin B. Frelih di conquistare il premio come “Miglior esordio letterario” all’annuale Slovenian Book Festival.
Egli ammanta di elementi distopici la sua opera-mondo di ben 361 pagine, siamo di fronte a una fantascienza dilatata, non strettamente tecnologica, che si dimostra di grande immediatezza grazie anche all’agevole traduzione di Michele Obit.
Tuttavia il genere fantascientifico è solo un pretesto per raccontarci come il mondo che conosciamo potrebbe diventare, l’autore sembra quasi aver profetizzato con sette anni di anticipo ciò che la pandemia sta suscitando; non dobbiamo fare dei social network la nostra ancora di salvezza, i nostri occhi sono sempre più abituati all’immediatezza dei feed\post ma non ci rendiamo conto di quanto ciò limiti il modo di esprimerci, siamo circoscritti in 280 caratteri. Bisogna scollarci dagli schermi di pc, smartphone e quant’altro e scendere in campo per cercare di salvare il salvabile, a cominciare già dal mettere in discussione il nostro smodato legame con la tecnologia.

Ambientato nel 2036, A\Metà si presenta come un romanzo corale nel quale vengono intrecciate tre diverse storyline, i protagonisti vivono una realtà ad alto tasso telematico che a causa di una tempesta solare o, per meglio dire, degli strascichi di quella che viene chiamata “Grande Cacofonia”, si avvia al collasso.
La generazione del futuro, i cosiddetti Millennials, dovranno fronteggiare una disconnessione totale dal mondo del web.

“la società è in decadenza
perché le manca immaginazione
e sbadiglia
e si sente stanca
e la voce le manca.”

Con il genere distopico condivide un annientamento del passato e un futuro gravato da numerose incognite.
Non c’è dato sapere quali siano state le cause che hanno comportato lo stravolgimento della Nazione nell’ambito politico e sociale, siamo trasportati direttamente nel 2036; perfino il worldbuilding viene messo in un angolo, ma non se ne avverte la mancanza perché sono le dissertazioni dei personaggi a mantenere viva la nostra attenzione, è il linguaggio a rappresentare il punto focale dell’opera. Folle e complessa, alterna un liricismo contemporaneo a un linguaggio diretto e che vuole "sconvolgere".
L’autore orchestra il libro come una sorta di straripante flusso di coscienza, giocando sulla presenza di flashforward e di flashback, disseminando tra quelle pagine momenti ispirati e ispiranti tali da rasentare la prosa poetica.
L’elemento caratterizzante di questo romanzo sta tutto nella combinazione coerente di complessità e immediatezza; il primo aspetto lo si nota dalla presenza di più chiavi di lettura che lo rendono “a strati”, mentre il secondo è proprio la facilità con il quale ci si approccia al libro, le pagine scorrono piacevolmente.

Abbiamo bisogno di uno stimolo per aprirci veramente. Non ci conosciamo. In fondo, non ci conosciamo. [...] La gente non ha bisogno di poesie. Ha bisogno solo di un orecchio che l'ascolti.

A\Metà è un delicato cubo di Rubik da risolvere che per le visioni allucinate da speculative fiction, ricreate al suo interno, mi ha trasmesso la sensazione di ritrovare il mio amato Cartarescu.
In questo romanzo Jasmin B. Frelih presta la sua penna provocatoria, autentica e fresca per narrarci una storia avvincente e premonitrice.

[Wiola Myszkowska Re:telling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 I think.
It definitely was written by a Slav. Gloomy, gray vision of near future which is very characteristic also for Polish speculative literature. Or any other genre, really ;)
Story: Blurb was really encouraging and interesting. Concept is brilliant. Still, it's not action based but internal and external (relationships) character development. Sometimes it's very (but not straight forward) philosophical and reminds me early cyberpunk novels. Which is kinda interesting when You realise that there is no "cyber" in this world, all "cyber" is lost.
Writing: sometimes it's heavy and I had to really try to stay focused. I must admit that I don't remember some parts of this novel already. Also, in English it tends to sound really juvenile but I think it's a matter of translation Slavonic language to English. It sounded much better when I translated it to Polish (another Slavonic) in my head, I swear ;) It's not a matter of poor translation skills, but grammar nuances, I think.
Overall: not for everybody.

[Urška O.o · Rating 5 out of 5]

GENIALNO delo, povsem upravičeno nagrajeno za prvenec leta. Avtor ostaja ves čas na visoki intelektualni ravni, brez nepotrebnih prispodob in ostalega balasta podaja "širšo sliko" o posamezniku in družbi nasploh. Brez "rožnatih očal" na nosu, samo gola dejstva.
Knjiga, ki bi jo želela imeti v svoji knjižni zbirki; knjiga, ki mi bo še nekaj časa hranila in dramila možgane; in knjiga, ki jo bom vsekakor prebrala vsaj še enkrat, saj je zame, priznam, prezahtevna in je nisem v celoti razumela že v prvo.
Iskrene čestitke avtorju za ta briljanten literarni debut in čim bolj plodno pisateljsko kariero!

[Jowix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eksperyment formalny może i ciekawy, ale treść to masakryczny bełkot... Kolejne wynurzenia faceta w kryzysie wieku średniego i jego penisa, perypetia rodzinne, których nie da się śledzić, bo zamiast przejmować się bohaterami zastanawiam się który to był który a właściwie wszystko jedno, bo i tak mnie nie obchodzą a na dokładkę dzień z życia instagramowej pseudopoetki i jej dziwnego stalkera.
Kakofoniczna konstrukcja tekstu imponuje, ale to nie wystarczy. Jedna z tych książek, które smutno stawiać na półce, bo będzie tylko przypominać o straconym czasie i rozczarowaniu.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sięgając po tę książkę, wiedziałam, że będzie to niełatwa i być może eksperymentalna lektura. Kusił mnie jednak kraj pochodzenia autora (Słowenia), nagroda Unii Europejskiej, zapowiedź dystopijnych tematów.
Przeczytałam te ponad pięćset stron, mam jednak wrażenia, że ta lektura była w moim przypadku raczej zbieraniem słów niż rozumieniem ich przesłania. Znalazłam wprawdzie recenzje, które analizują przesłanie i samą treść, ale nawet one nie pomagają mi w zrozumieniu tej książki. Co więcej, czytając je, zastanawiam się, gdzie dana osoba takie informacje wyczytała, bo ja w tym zbiorze słów nie byłam w stanie ich wyłuskać.

Ciąg dalszy: http://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot.c...

[Marika Salvatori · Rating 3 out of 5]

La mia videorecensione: https://youtu.be/7FIQBEG2k6U

[The Idle Woman · Rating 1 out of 5]

It takes a lot for me not to finish a book. In the past, I’ve forced myself through novels in the hope they’ll suddenly improve, because I hate leaving things incomplete. But now, dear reader, I have been defeated. Perhaps it’s my time of life. Being in your mid-thirties brings a deeper awareness of mortality, and the fact that time is finite. Perhaps I have less free time than I used to have, and am disinclined to spend that time on things that don’t actually bring me pleasure. Or perhaps it really is the case that this book, like an obnoxious person at a party, just wants to show off that it’s far cleverer than anyone else in the room. That’s how it felt to me, much of the time. And so, in the interests of a full disclaimer, this is not technically a book review because I’ve stalled at 30%.

For the full review (and full frustration), please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/11/13/i...

[Mark White · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too consciously "literary" for its own good this book is dense as Tolstoy, pointless as Woolf. Filled with "See what I did there? See how smart I am?" The story is lost in the style. This is the sort of book that puts people off Literature (with a capital L).

[Anncleire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensione anche sul mio blog:
https://pleaseanotherbook.tumblr.com/...


“A/metà” di Jasmin B. Frelih edito in italiano da Safarà Editore è un libro che è entrato nelle mie cose da leggere perché convinta irrimediabilmente a leggerlo allo stand della casa editrice al Salone del Libro di Torino dell’anno scorso. Come sempre facile vittima del marketing fatto bene. Come ho spesso condiviso qui sul blog Safarà è una delle mie case editrici preferite e leggere le loro pubblicazioni è sempre un piacere. E anche in questo caso non me ne sono pentita.

"A/metà" è un libro strano che si articola intorno alle vicende di personaggi dalle vite intrecciate e convolute che cercano di salvarsi dalle loro esistenze spezzate. La storia si svolge nel 2036 in un futuro costruito ad hoc che vive in un disperato scenario post apocalittico in cui la bolla creata da Internet è esplosa lasciando tutti nelle condizioni di non riconoscersi per quello che si è. La "Grande Cacofonia" ha distrutto tutte le certezze e ha instaurato un regime che sembra avulso da qualsiasi radice. L'atmosfera quasi onirica, accompagnata da visioni e suggestione, contribuisce a rendere le vicende quasi spezzate, senza rendersi conto davvero dell'unità di fondo del libro. Ma dell'evento che ha modificato per sempre i tratti distintivi delle comunicazioni mondiali non si parla mai davvero, non si entra mai nel merito, è una verità universale che attraversa le pagine e le plasma da dentro, come il magma di un vulcano. I tre protagonisti di cui seguiamo le storie sembrano vivere in un mondo senza tempo, che non si aggancia con la nostra realtà e allo stesso tempo, emerge con una precisione assoluta il senso di straniamento che proviamo anche noi rispetto alla situazione attuale. C'è da un lato la propensione al distacco, alla fuga, alla divisione, dall'altro la voglia di intrecciare la propria esistenza a quella degli altri. La dispersione di internet ha messo in luce la solitudine e la disperazione che caratterizza la vita dei protagonisti e anche il bisogno di creare connessioni. Evan è un regista che si trova ad Edo per mettere in scena un’opera abbastanza controversa, mentre il suo agente si ritrova invischiato in uno scandalo, deve fare i conti con le sue perversioni e le sue dipendenze. Incastrato in scelte di cui forse inizia a pentirsi Evan è uno che si lascia trasportare dalla sua vita, incapace di prendere una posizione, fino a quando decide per il peggio possibile. Kras invece è un ex ministro della Guerra, che si unisce alla sua famiglia per festeggiare un compleanno e finisce per scoperchiare una serie di segreti che non pensava neanche esistessero. La guerra non è mai finita e anzi si ripropone sempre e continuamente con altre facce, ma sempre con la sua forza più distruttrice. E dove c’è la guerra ci sono sempre solo perdenti. Tradito e sconvolto Kras si dimena tra mogli, sorelle, fratelli già delusi, già persi, già sconvolti. Chiude il trio Zoja, forse il personaggio più particolare dei tre, quello sicuramente che muove le fila della storia. Una poetessa che non solo scrive ma si esibisce, in un pubblico riunito per osannarla, ma anche per toccarne di sfuggita un pezzo. Zaja è fuoco e parola, è il filo che conduce Kras e Evan in un turbine di scoperte e parole. C’è un prima e c’è un dopo che si perde a distanza di anni, nella distruzione del post Internet. Cosa c’è quando l’iperconnessione svanisce? Cosa c’è quando il dolore diventa troppo grande? Il libro di Frehil è un viaggio in una dimensione nuova, in cui i confini non sono chiari, ma in cui le solitudini dei protagonisti, diverse per sostanza e cause, si ritrovano unite, di nuovo, per cercare risposte anche quando queste sembrano impossibili.

Il particolare da non dimenticare? Una casa sull’albero…

Siamo tutti un po' a metà, spezzati, incompleti. Siamo tutti la somma dei nostri pezzi scomposti. ogni esperienza ci divide e ci esaspera. La scrittrice slava racconta una storia che mostra cosa succede quando tutto questo diventa troppo.
Buona lettura guys!

[Urh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mogoče bi moral to knjigo še enkrat prebrati, da bi bil popolnoma pošten do nje. Knjiga je zelo strnjena in izčiščena v smislu kaj želi povedati.
Ampak kot prvenec misli, da je pametnejša od samega sebe.
Po pravici mislim, da je celo to namerno. Avtorja zato še bolj ceniš, ker se gre literarni globalizem, ki bi ga lahko enačili recimo le še z tropom upokojencev, ki jih vlačijo od Louvra pa do žebljarskega muzeja Kokre in so pri tej tranziciji vse zmedeni in počaščeni, malo gosposki in malo ponižni. Ampak težava je namreč le ena za cel roman. Če nekdo napravi tak razpon, tako divjo vizijo, nekdo plača ceno. Tokrat jo plača bralec. Ampak bralec je že enkrat plačal, ko je knjigo kupil, zdaj pa naj še enkrat plača...natanko kaj bo pa kupil?

Veliko stvari v tej knjigi je odličnih, sijajnih, krasnih?! Bistra hči planin? Gregorčič? Pesnik. Pesnik? Ni važno. Ampak ritem ni ena od teh stvari. To je roman za mlade. Niti ne za intelektualce, ker je preveč poln informacij, ampak bolj za google študente. Torej roman za mladega študenta. Ampak naj me koklja brcne, če bo imel ta mladi študent nato imel sogovornika...Če bi ga imel, potem bi moto te knjige nosil vodo. Ampak ker vem, da to ni res, ker celo vem, da obstajajo ljudje z diplomami pa brez služb, je to v bistvu najslabše vrste knjiga. Intelektualni presežek, ki eliti ne nudi premislek o družbi, ampak kvečjemu podaja nova gesla za google iskanja. To sploh ni slabo, ampak obetala je veliko več že v prvih dvajsetih straneh.

[Nancy Valentino]

Sadly I don’t think I “got” this novel at all. I’ve read the other reviews and honestly I still don’t understand what it was about. Maybe Slovenian literature just isn’t for me? I found this whole novel weird and the plot nonsensical and yet still somehow unsatisfying. Not my thing at all. I just didn’t get it. Very literary though, I guess, so perhaps one to read if you consider yourself to be an erudite reader of world literature? Idk. Not what I want out of spec fic though, personally.

[Steven Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whether because of translation or the original writing, it is often easy to lose track of names, point of view, who is speaking, and place in time. It doesn’t seem like this disorientation is intentional.

Despite the lack of clarity, though, there are many brilliant expositions of spatial and experiential depth, and the narrative - even through confusion - is compelling.

[Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

With regret, large sections of this (the Kras chapters) were just utterly dull and spoiled the rest.

[Andrew Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Slovenian novel I’ve read, and it does a nice line in snarky, brutally honest character analysis, particularly of the Wolf family, whose part-demented/part-deeply ordinary relationships mean a fiftieth birthday party takes almost a year of emotional chess to arrange. The book is set twenty-five years in the future, and looks at how millennials respond to a fractured world as they reach their fiftieth year. Three of them – ex war minister Kras, poet Zoja and theatre director Evan – negotiate various personal crises following ‘The Cut’ of 2011, during which a solar storm wiped out the Great Cacophony (the Internet), giving rise to totalitarian politics that split society still further.
Various robot helpers, who exist despite the absence of a replacement for the Internet, either assist or get in the way without adding anything particularly science-fictional, and feel like what we could get in the next few years rather than a quarter-century hence. Indeed, the SF is pretty much non-existent; the book has an 80s or even 70s feel, which is hardly surprising given Western culture’s tendency to consume little other than itself.
The slight unfamiliarity of the translated language throws this texture into sharp relief, and it’s emphasised by none of the main characters beginning their story at home – Evan is in Japan, Kras is at a family retreat, and Zoja is in America. Everything is divided, hence the book’s title. If only the author had harnessed that idea to something truly science-fictional, the story might have engaged at more levels – albeit troubling ones. A trans character is abused, while the robot responsible for ‘sponsoring’ (babysitting) Evan in Japan ends up giving him a mecha blow-job that goes predictably wrong. However, the book doesn’t do anything that original with the idea of what middle-aged millennials will actually be facing.
Other elements are just infuriatingly wrong; other than performance geeks like me no one gives a toss about experimental theatre now and I don’t believe that just because the Internet has died there won’t be some future alternative (telly?), so where Evan gets his budget from is a mystery. Also, and most inaccurately, fascism is on the rise because of social media and the Internet, not in spite of it. Ultimately, this is an interesting literary novel with a bit of SF tacked on.

[Divakaran · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me. I don't know whether it is the writer himself or his English translator or perhaps both who I should blame for this painfully unfun and at times infuriatingly messy read.

The book is littered with meaningless philosophical statements. It feels as though the author is constantly trying to impress with these ideas, with each new sentence attempting to outdo the last. It’s mostly rubbish.

The writing style is equally chaotic. Some chapters rely on short, punchy sentences, while others drown you in long, dragging paragraphs. In one chapter, too unimportant characters appear for no meaningful reason, serving only to confuse the reader. And the audacity of giving two characters two different names, without a clear purpose, added to my frustration. At some point, I simply stopped trying to remember who was who. Not to mention how far too many random characters go on endless monologues way too often.

And boy did the confusion not end. Even toward the end, new characters and plotlines are introduced with no real contribution to the story. While the book presents an interesting concept in its final stretch, it’s buried under too much needless noise for any sane reader to make proper sense of. I am sure this sort of experimental writing will be praised by some, but for me, the amount of superfluous nonsense I have to go through just to make sense of what is happening makes this whole experience far more irritating than insightful.

[Lou T. Cosner]

Non ci ho capito niente.
Probabilmente richiede un livello di attenzione superiore a quello che ero in grado di avere in questo periodo, ma ho proprio fatto difficoltà a seguire tutto. Una delle tre linee narrative è raccontata in modo molto complicato (cambi di punti di vista, di tempo, di struttura), le altre due sono più "normali" ma comunque la quantità di nomi e di cose da ricordare è grande. In alcuni momenti compaiono personaggi nuovi con punti di vista nuovi che poi scompaiono e non servono a nulla nella trama. In certi momenti mi è sembrato complicato per il gusto del complicato.
Mi è piaciuto che di questo "mondo altro" (distopia?) non vengano mai date le coordinate. Mai spiegato, mai descritto: se ne raccolgono le briciole qua e là, ma il lavoro non è semplice.
Tutta la difficoltà di lettura potrà piacere ad alcune persone. Io ho solo fatto tanta fatica ad arrivare alla fine e quando ci sono arrivata non l'ho capita. Boh!

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gods, this book was full of itself. One moment aggrandising monologues, the next sentence-break poetry that was supposed to be profound, and the rambling. I don’t think I even finished it, which is saying something. But really there are times to just cut your losses and this was one of them.
created, and yet so much of them is so steeped in tradition and pomp and floaty floaty prose that I just could not care. It took so many chapters of a family scene for anything to happen, and yes, sure relationships need to be laid out, revealed over time, but my gods with so many family members and so much posturing I kept asking myself was it worth it. It was not. Gave the heavy hardback back to the library from whence it came. One of the bonuses of using your local library is that you don’t have to spend money on books that ain't all that.

[dammydoc · Rating 2 out of 5]

“/A volte proviamo tanta rabbia nei confronti delle persone che amiamo. Verso gli altri non abbiamo dei sentimenti così forti. Quando ci leghiamo, quando ci leghiamo davvero a qualcuno, nei legami si creano delle bolle nelle quali trovano posto le cose più crude/“. Pubblicato nel 2013 con il titolo originale Na/pół, il romanzo d’esordio di Jasmin B. Frelih - sloveno, classe 1986, scrittore, editore e traduttore - ha vinto nel 2016 lo European Union Prize for Literature, premio nato per promuovere i nuovi talenti letterari. Le tre sottotrame (Il palazzo delle crêpes, Abramo!, Poetrylitics) che costituiscono i pilastri di A/metà, paradossalmente, avrebbero forse meritato di mantenere una individualità nella forma racconto, invece di convergere in modo forzoso a sostenere un libro ipertrofico…

Ne scrivo su

https://www.mangialibri.com/ameta

[Maša Agitka Martić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Po dolgem obdobju branja pretežno znanstvene fantastike in fantazijskih knjig, sem hrepenela po dobrem leposlovju. Ta knjiga me je očarala, posrkala mi je pozornost sprva z genialno uporabo jezika, zatem pa z rahločutnim opisovanjem človeških odnosov in sveta nasploh. Čuti se mladost pisatelja (mišljeno zelo pozitivno, nekateri kritizirajo knjigo v tem smislu, češ da je kot mlad pisatelj nametal not preveč vsega, a meni ni ena stran v knjigi bila odvečna, ravno nasprotno, tako je nabita s pomenom, da me je znova in znova ganila), a hkrati se čuti kot nekaj ne samo zrelega, temveč večnega. Ostajam presunjena.

[Jasmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read In/Half for a book club this month. This time, I read an English translation. This is a dystopian novel, set in a future where a big event drastically changed the world as we know it. The story follows three characters and their circumstances, which at the end come together in a cohesive story. What I liked about this novel, are dynamics between characters, in particular in one of the story following an intersting family situation. I think the end went a bit over me, but otherwise this is an enjoyable read.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has passed the landmark of fifty a few years back, I found myself unable to relate to the characters. Perhaps it is my experience over the authors perception of age. I also found many of the sentences short and put together almost as bullet points rather than the flowing language I am used to in fiction. Perhaps this is a book for the younger crowd and I am a bit too old for it. I won’t pass judgement on it and will leave this to the younger crowd.

[Ansate]

I wasn't able to finish the book. The characters are extremely unlikable, and the story moves around a lot. I almost flipped through to read the parts about Kras and his family, because they sometimes made me laugh.

[Daniele Foa' · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evan's chapters are nice. For the rest it is just a Bruce Sterling's wannabe...

[Jonathan yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was most fun to read, i read it in two sittings, there may be confusing parts and some rambling parts but overall it was just so fun to read i can't help but giving it all the stars

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read the English translation In/Half. Loved the premise of this dystopian book - but for most of it I had no idea what was going on. Lost in transation?

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this book is really deep.