Flights, Olga Tokarczuk, Riverhead Books, 2018, 403 pp (originally published in Poland, 2007, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft)
I read this for my Tiny Book Club. It is an experimental novel made up of fragments, written by Tokarczuk as she traveled around Europe in the first decade of the 21st century. It was a challenging read for me because though there are a few story lines, even those are broken up throughout the book. If you read mainly for story, this might not be the book for you, though it has its own particular pleasures.
After I finished the book, I listened to a talk given by Olga Tokarczuk and her translator Jennifer Croft, presented on YouTube by Politics and Prose Books. That was good because it answered questions I had. She actually wrote the book 13 years ago. It was not published in English until 2018, after Jennifer Croft translated it and then fought hard to find a publisher. Once it was published in English, it became a finalist for and then won the Man Booker International Prize, after which Tokarczuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In the talk she explained that she intentionally wrote in fragments. She called it a "constellation" novel, comparing the way we look at the stars in a vast sky and group them into constellations in an effort to impose some order. Thus the book is a kind of fiction because it contains stories of other people intermingled with the author's reactions to the places she traveled, to what she saw, to certain areas of knowledge she was pursuing and what she learned. She wanted readers to read all of her fragments and involve ourselves in making our own order out of it.
If that sounds like it requires effort by the reader, I can tell you that it does. The pleasures for me were mostly due to being able to read about such continual and free travel during this time of restricted travel due to COVID. And I was reminded how much one can travel within one's own mind, in fact how much we all do that all the time!
A few years ago I read an earlier novel by this author, House of Day, House of Night. It was also a bit challenging but a more enjoyable read for me. I plan to read her most recently translated novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, soon.
Have you read Flights or any of her other books? If you have reviewed any of them leave a link in the comments or just a comment if you prefer.
This actually sounds fascinating. I tend to like unusual writing styles of care and creativity are put into a book. I also do not mind books that are light on plot. I might give this a try.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted to know my review had this effect on you, Brian!
DeleteWonderful review, and this sounds like something I might love!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah!
Deleteintriguing and provocative! i could happily read this, i think...
ReplyDeleteI guess you never know until you try?
DeleteBooks in translation always leave me wondering a little as to how much nuance is lost. It is probably minimal, and good translators are a very special breed. But it does require that they understand the intent of the author; translation is not merely a question of rendering words from one language into another. I am able to speak and read French and I have read a couple of novels in both English and French and always felt that something was lost. Obviously in the case of a translation from Polish to English, I would have no way of knowing, and perhaps that is why translation can work so well - most people will simply never read the original.
ReplyDeleteI understand your concerns. I have no facility with languages so I am dependent on translations. In the interview I mentioned, Jennifer Croft discusses her method of translation and I could feel how much care she took. I think that amount of care shows in the English version.
DeleteI totally agree with David. I always say, there is a third person in the "conversation" between the author and the reader, and that's the translator. We depend on him being able to convey the message the way the author intended to, which is not easy.
DeleteAnd it's true, it bothers me a lot more when I have to read a translation from a language that I know. I really, really try to avoid that.
I think, all her books require effort from the reader. As you know, I read Primeval and other Times with my book club, and that certainly wasn't one of the easiest reads of the year. LOL
ReplyDeleteBut, as you said, the book has its own particular pleasures. So true. I'll see what I'll read next but this one sounds like I could like it, as well.
Thanks for your review.
I started reading Tokarczuk with The Tiny Book club because one of the members is descended from Polish Holocaust survivors and has in fact visited Poland often. Now we have read two. I admire the author and think she has done her country a great service.
DeleteThat's correct. I don't know many Polish authors and I'm pretty sure that's the same with most non-Poles. So glad she received the Nobel Prize otherwise I might never have found her. And that's what I like about reading Nobel Prize winners, you get to know so many great new authors.
DeleteI've seen this around a bit, and I received the audio download from the publisher so I am curious to see what that might be like - she's written other books as well, I believe, unless I'm confusing her with another Polish author.
ReplyDeleteThree of her books have been translated into English. This one plus House of Day, House of Night; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; and Primeval and Other Times. I will be curious to know how you do with this one.
DeleteI haven't read this award-winning author but I'll be a bit curious when you read Plow Over the Bones. Mostly in the summer I read for story ... and nothing too hard during Covid. ha. But travel books around Europe can have interesting parts for sure.
ReplyDeleteYes, I read for story most of the time. Reading this in the summer was certainly challenging. I'll get to Drive Your Plow probably in the fall or winter.
DeleteThanks for your great review. I have read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead https://wordsandpeace.com/2019/04/11/book-review-drive-your-plow-over-the-bones-of-the-dead/ Quirky. I actually didn't know the parts were connected in Flights, I thought it was just a collection of short stories, so I might give it a try
ReplyDeleteThank you for deeming my review great! I feel it lacks something but there you have it. I wrote it twice and have moved on. There are some excellent reviews on Goodreads, especially the one by Janet Fitch.
DeleteThis sounds like a book that does make you work with how she wrote it, but it sounds like the work is worth it. Also, any time I can read about travel, my brain just kind of pulls itself in two ways. The first way, just remembering the days where we could travel with ease and the other part just freaks out because of Covid lol
ReplyDeleteWork hardly describes what I had to do. Writing the review was even harder. Someday we may be able to travel again but who knows when?
DeleteI read and reviewed Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead last year and loved it. (https://birdwoman-thenatureofthings.blogspot.com/2019/11/drive-your-plow-over-bones-of-dead-by.html) This sounds like a very different kind of book. I will probably read it eventually. My reading card is pretty full at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI remember your review. I own a copy of that one and will get to it yet this year. A full reading card means riches to me!
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