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Epepe (Karinthy Ferenc Muvei) (2000)

by Ferenc Karinthy(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

9631512738 (ISBN13: 9789631512731)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

review 1: If you've ever been in a foreign country where you don't know the language you'll know that it's an uncomfortable situation. Luckily with modern technology and the rise of international franchises around the world it's hard to be completely cut off from things you're familiar with. What if you ended up in a country where you had no points of reference though, and where anything but the simplest hand gestures inspired confusion? It would be terrifying even if you were perfectly safe. That's the type of terror Metropole taps into. The book is sort of a one trick pony, but the one trick is pretty good. The main character tries a bunch of logical ways of trying to get in contact with someone who he can communicate with, and he only occasionally behaves stupidly (wasting his mo... moreney in the beginning, for instance). Overall the one-note nature of the novel holds it back from greatness- it might have been stronger in novella form. Still, if the idea of the inability to communicate brought to kafkaesque extremes sounds appealing to you then give this one a try.
review 2: I really liked this book and recommend it. At first I was afraid the main character's time in the strange urban area where he couldn't understand anything would eventually wear on me, but the author made it interesting and even at times nerve-wracking and others thrilling. KINDA SPOILERS: I almost wanted the book to go on, to find more out about what happened to the main character after the book ended. LIKE, it ended kind of open-ended-y, but there was some peace/closure in a way. Even if what the main character discovered at the end turned out to be a dead end, he still, in a way, accepted his predicament in a way that he hadn't yet until that point. I have my own ideas about his situation, including something the main character says at one point which is that perhaps everyone in the city doesn't understand anything anyone is saying. I sort of clung to this idea even though certain things disproved it because of his inability to really reach any conclusions about the language. I liked how the book talked about language without being pedantic, making the main character's search (& utter failure) to understand an interesting plot point. I really felt like I could envision the place, too, and all of its busy-ness. Anyway, good book. I recommend it. less

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