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A Ballad For Georg Henig (1990)

by Viktor Paskov(Favorite Author)

4.64 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0720607965 (ISBN13: 9780720607963)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Peter Owen Publishers

review 1: The book is mostly about Georg Henig who lives in one room in a basement. He lives for his art – violin building – and completely disregards al other things. Specially the episode with the leg underlines how little other things matters to him. I read the book because it was the one with the highest average rating (currently 4.61) on the 1001-book to read list. Judging from the reviews most readers are from Bulgaria. I think you need to come from a Bulgaria or Eastern-Europe to really appreciate it. Although Georg Henig is poor and weak he successfully deny the authorities in order to to what he thinks is the rigth thing. He has some very stong values that are his own and cannot in any way be taken from him – no matter the many “attacks” from various places though... more the story. I think as a story about ownership, resonsibility and defying from Eastern-Europe writer we from the west-culture may not full appreciate it. Also the role of religion and the story tells relation to religion (that sounds like a mash up between Christianity and old Nordic religions).
review 2: A work of art, this masterpiece touches the soul. The story is simple but yet it isn't. It is about a life and it is about art. It is about death and survival in a world where God has disappeared and poverty exists. It is, mainly, the story of a boy and a master craftsman. The novel resembles mythology and dabbles with a bit of magical realism. It is not a book to be read only for entertainment. It is truly a work of art, and it deals with the discussion of what it truly means to be an artist, a master of one's own craft and one's life. less

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