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Our Circus Presents (Romanian Literature Series)

Lucian Dan Teodorovici,

Alistair Ian Blyth (Translator)

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Jan 01, 2015 Bogdan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romanian

Lucian Dan Teodorovici is one the best contemporary Romanian writers, in my opinion. He writes well, using very well humor without crossing the line into parody. Same situation with this not too long novel, but in this case, I did not liked too much the topic (it is about suicide) and the way it is presented.

What I mean is that the characters do not take suicide too seriously. All main characters try to commit suicide or (in one case) they are actually doing it. And they believe it to me some ki Lucian Dan Teodorovici is one the best contemporary Romanian writers, in my opinion. He writes well, using very well humor without crossing the line into parody. Same situation with this not too long novel, but in this case, I did not liked too much the topic (it is about suicide) and the way it is presented.

What I mean is that the characters do not take suicide too seriously. All main characters try to commit suicide or (in one case) they are actually doing it. And they believe it to me some kind of art or a method of sending a message to the world. In my opinion, except the character that killed herself to revenge on the narrator, they are actually not thinking too seriously at what suicide actually means. They don't understand that the person as it existed disappears. Due to this, I'll give it a 2 for premise.

Regarding the form, I liked a lot the way humor is carefully inserted, mostly in flashbacks of the narrator. This makes the topic of suicide one that becomes a little easier to read about it. I'll give it a 4 for form.

In terms of originality, I haven't read too many novels on this topic, although I am sure they exist. But if I take into account also the humor and the apparent mocking of suicide by the characters that don't seem to take it seriously, I believe it is fairly original. So I will give it a 4 for the level of originality.

On the characters, the first person narrator is one the best such characters from Romanian literature. Also the other characters are interesting and diverse as in real life. I believe Lucian Dan Teodorovici is a great human observer and this is why he makes so good characters. So I will give it a 5 for characters.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, at first sight the novel seems simple, but behind the way each character relates with suicidal ideas, there are a lot of additional meanings. Thus a reader can interpret the novel in various ways. It is not too difficult, as it is firmly anchored in Romanian society from past years, something that I experience myself daily. Thus I will rate it with a 3 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, the story in itself is plausible. My problem is with the fact that so many characters interested in suicidal crossed their paths in so little time (the novel takes place in couple of days only). But what is similar is attracting each other, so my rating for credibility is 4.

The last criteria is edition. My hardcover second edition with quality paper is fairly elegant. I also liked that it had a book sign and that the spine was made in such a way that I could read it on flat surface. This is just the kind of books I like to buy, so I'll give it a 5.

To summarize, this is a novel not too common, perhaps not to easy to digest by all readers, but I liked it. I wished a more clear conclusion about suicidal (death is not a game and if you did something that you regret afterwards, you cannot load last saved game and try again). All in all, my final rating for it is 3.86, which I will round it to 4 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 3.86 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

For more details on how I rated and reviewed this novel, please read these guidelines. ...more

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