A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš

Author: Danilo Kiš
Original title: Grobnica za Borisa Davidoviča
Pages: 136
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Format: Paperback
Genres: Short Stories, Historical Fiction
Goodreads

Plot:
        Composed of seven dark tales, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich presents variations on the theme of political and social self-destruction throughout Eastern Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The characters in these stories are caught in a world of political hypocrisy, which ultimately leads to death, their common fate. Although the stories Kiš tells are based on historical events, the beauty and precision of his prose elevates these ostensibly true stories into works of literary art that transcend the politics of their time.

About the author: 
        Danilo Kiš was a Serbian novelist, short story writer and poet who wrote in Serbo-Croatian. A member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts,Kiš was influenced by Bruno Schulz, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, Ivo Andrić and Miroslav Krleža,among other authors. His most famous works include A Tomb for Boris Davidovich and The Encyclopedia of the Dead. 

My thoughts:
          It was quite a horrifying read for me. Little more than 100 pages of dark history and unnecessary cruelty. The seven stories do not have an apparent connection between main characters, but now and then someone from the previous story is vaguely mentioned to connect them all together is the endless victim chain of ideology.
          The narration seems to me intentionally simplified as well as the description of the characters. They are not flat, but it seems that you are reading one of those easy going articles from the newspaper. The second level of narration reveals, however, the darker side of the book, the unemotional mill that grinds its own disciples and true believers; the atmosphere of desperation and hopelessness. Each story is the background for a vaster picture of the creeping disquiet and the emerging horror.
        The culmination is probably the story called “A tomb for Boris Davidovich”. The character, Boris Davidovich Novsky, a noted revolutionary, is arrested with the intent to extract a confession from him in a show-trial. During his interrogation Novsky duels with his interrogator Fedukin over how he will be remembered in the future, fighting over the conclusion to his biography. This story is so full of absurd brutality, murdering of innocent people just to prove some point. It vividly portraits the cold cruelty to which lives are subjected and destroyed in the name of an ideology.
        The truly dark collection, which leave a hard and bitter aftertaste, but I highly recommend it anyway.

Stories list:
The knife with the rosewood handle
The sow that eats her farrow
The mechanical lions
The magic card dealing
A tomb for Boris Davidovich
Dogs and books
The short biography of A.A.Darmolatov

Rating:

    4/5 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Author:  Cornelia Funke 
Original title: Tintenherz
Pages: 543
Edition Language: English
Series: Inkworld #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Fiction
Goodreads 

Blurb:

     12 year-old Meggie lives with her father, Mortimer, a bookbinder. Mo never reads stories aloud to Meggi. He also never talks about her mother or tells her different stories that Meggi does not believe in her existence anymore.

When Meggi is 12, Capricorn, an unknown villain is on a hunt to find Mortimer and get hold of a secret book her father possesses. They have to leave their home behind and while they are on the run, Meggi discovers her father's secret and, along with the help of Dustfinger (a very strange and unusual person) and Meggi's eccentric aunt Elinor, fights to free her father and destroy Capricorn.

My thoughts: 

 I took the synopsis from Goodreads, but have to cut it greatly. Really? You want to tell everything in the blurb?  The biggest suspense of this book was actually to find out what was the secret Maggi's father had.

     I have big expectations for a book, it was also easy read, but I believe, this book should be read by me at least 20 years earlier and I would not classify this book "for every age".

     I cannot say I did not like it or place my finger exactly on what irritated me, but it just left me untouched. The plot of Inkheart does not slow down; I love that, through the characters are a little irritating and lack development. Sometimes their decisions are on the edge of stupidity and I do not mean a child, but grown-ups. I didn't feel like I really knew the characters and connected to them.

     Taking into consideration that this is a children’s book (I do not think it is YA) it is quite good. The plot development is consistent, the villains are scary, but not bloody, there is no open violence in the book just references, which makes it accessible for younger children. But overall, it was a little too long and sometimes you'd think you're just going in circles. I expected more magic as well; but it is more realistic than magical book.

      What I really loved about the story that it heavily promotes the value of reading. Reading about books and how people value and worship them is very inspiring and captivating. Reading opens horizons and this is the right message for young reader.

Rating: 

    3/5 

Theather: The Urn on the Empty Stage

Author: Martin Čičvák
Original title: Urna na prázdném jevišti/Urna na prázdnom javisku
Director: Martin Čičvák
Genres: Drama, Comedy
Cast: Veronika Žilková, Lenka Skopalová, Ivana Uhlířová a Sára Venclovská
Time: 110 min
Premiere: 2 October 2016, Činoherní klub, Prague

Summary:
     Three actresses of different generations and the opera soprano gathered together on an empty stage with the black urn in the middle of it. In the urn are the ashes of the great theater director whom they came to pay a last tribune to.
     The story line develops around the attempt to fulfill the director’s last wish: to spread his ashes on the stage. The increasing uneasiness and inability to agree on anything reveals the mutual animosity of the former love rivals.

About the author: 

     Martin Čičvák is a theater director and playwright from Slovakia. After finishing studies in Brno JAMU (CZ) he studied in Darlington College of Arts in UK. Čičvák is actively working with Czech and Slovak theaters, and was working as well in Slovenia, Serbia and Great Britain. In 2000 he became on the of the main theater directors in Prague’s Činoherní klub theater. Apart from play he is also directing opera. 

About the play: 

      The great director loved his actresses and they loved him back. He meant a lot to them and they were thankful for their carriers. Together with him they would like to bury the memories of traumas, failures and mutual hatred. What unites those 4 women is the ambiguous relationship to the deceased: on the one hand they admire him and thankful for the successful roles and mutual work; on the other hand they could not stand his authoritative attitude, they reproach him for love affairs and not able to fulfill their acting ambitions.

      The play is full of the stereotypes of the acting profession: inability to suppress your passions, naivety and foolishness, certainty of your talent and rightness. The most funny and most difficult for me were the parts where the actresses cites roles form old performances twisting together the actresses and her personage’s character. It is quite fascinating to watch how they project their roles on their relationship with the director.  

Themes: 
Stereotyped vision on acting profession:
Frankly only people who are working in the theater know what is going on behind the curtain. So most of the time people just guess and try to predict behavior of actors. This play is full of general clichés like stupidity and shallowness of actors and their uncontrollable strive for success. On the other hand we see the drama’s going on with insults, frustration and humiliation with which actor need to cope with and continue to perform their best. 

Gender inequality:  

On the surface comes out such a problematic issue as gender inequality in acting profession. Women are taken into consideration as “muse” in the best scenario and in the worst as mere mistress. The main characters do not seem to fight against this inequality and prefer to take the role of the mistress in spite of the cost. 

Final thoughts: 

      I really liked the play, thought I met some challenges while watching it. Multiple references to theatrical pieces as Macbeth, Medea and other were not so easy to gasp with my level of language. But I was able to grasp the allusion and references.

      Another interesting thing about the play is its genre: It is not clear what it is drama with hints of humor, comedy with dramatic set up. The playwright leaves the spectator to decide himself, but adding an extra twist with detective line.

      The scenery is very simple, to be more exact they consists of only black urn. And I like it. Nothing distracts from brilliantly written dialog between actresses, how they are trying to find common solution, quarreling, getting hysterical, accusing each other and then uniting in mutual hatred towards deceased. The dialogs are full of black humor and exaggerations.

Portuguese authours

        I have just returned from the short trip to Portugal and was enchanted by the country. There is such a unique atmosphere there and style.
       Unfortunately, you cannot say that Portugal is now on its peak and you see some decay. The old buildings are not always being cared properly for and you might see spectacular architectural piece with peeling off plaster. But I hope this is a transitional stage and a heritage of the once most influential country in the world will be take care of.
  
      But another question rose in my head while going along crooked streets. What I actually know about the literary situation in Portugal? Yes, I am aware of some historical facts and prominent discoverers and scientist, but I cannot recall any Portuguese author I have heard about. That seems a little frightening as I am trying to read a lot of different literature from around the world and this turned out to be the huge flop.
       So one of my tasks for the next year will be finding out more about the Portuguese literature and read and least 2 books.