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Review
'A novel of exceptional, astonishing strangeness, Solo confirms Rana Dasgupta as the most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation.' SALMAN RUSHDIE Praise for 'Tokyo Cancelled': 'Only the most gifted writers, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jonathan Safran-Foer, can hold the surreal and the real in satisfying equilibrium. This elite now welcomes Rana Dasgupta to its ranks. He makes magic realism his own, and his debut novel is superb. The novel's momentum comes from the narrators, though the plot in which they come together is deceptively mundane: their plane is grounded and they tell stories to pass the night. But this is just the structural glue for a series of spellbinding tales composed in a crisp but poetic prose which already has the hallmarks of a signature style. Dasgupta's gift for inventing stories is quite remarkable: you feel he could go on forever and never get boring. " Tokyo Cancelled" is profound, but in the humblest and most sensitive way. A treat.' Andrew Staffell, Time Out 'Book of the Week' 'Executed with elegance and charm.' The Guardian 'This is a very bold, very striking book. In an age when so many first fictions are thinly veiled autobiography, and every other creative writing tutor is peddling the 'Write what you know' mantra, it is exceptionally refreshing to read a writer who is daring to imagine, rather than transcribe. "Tokyo Cancelled" is an unforgettable book, with its own peculiar charms. I shall be fascinated to see what happens next.' Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman
Product Description
The highly anticipated new novel from the critically acclaimed author of Tokyo Cancelled. Solo recounts the life and daydreams of a reclusive one hundred year-old man from Bulgaria. Before the man lost his sight, he read this story in a magazine: a group of explorers came upon a community of parrots speaking the language of a society that had been wiped out in a recent catastrophe. Astonished by their discovery, they put the parrots in cages and sent them home so that linguists could record what remained of the lost language. But the parrots, already traumatised by the devastation they had recently witnessed, died on the way. Wondering if, unlike the hapless parrots, he has any wisdom to leave to the world, Ulrich embarks on an epic armchair journey through a century of violent politics, forbidden music, lost love and failed chemistry, finding his way eventually to an astonishing epiphany of tenderness and enlightenment.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Depressing,
By
This review is from: Solo (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Other reviewers will have given an outline of the book, so I won't reiterate the story. It has a very real feel to it and I think the author has done a very good job of describing both the history of Bulgaria and surrounds, and the physical changes there, along with some of the emotional and personal fallout in people's lives as a result of political and other events over the years. On that level I found it very interesting and I think he did an excellent job.
However I felt that, in some places, he was trying too hard with his 'arty' use of language and sentence structure. I found it annoying, to be honest, and it got in the way of the story. As for the second section being meant to be the dream of the main character in the first section - missed that altogether until near the end. I was confused and bemused by the jump but just waded in and followed the characters. I am, first and foremost, interested in people. Cunning and trendy plot devices are just show-boating and irritating. Makes you think about the author and not the story. And, to me, that is not the point of writing fiction... Finally - and this is a very personal thing - as someone who gets emotionally involved in the books I read, I found it quite depressing and a struggle to get through, because really I didn't like any of the characters and so was not interested in what happened to them. Not one of them seemed to have any redeeming features: no personal insight or capacity for compassion, or learning - nothing at all. No thanks.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of two parts,
By
This review is from: Solo (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I loved the first part of this book, which follows the central character's life in flashback, giving the reader a view of a nation and a world going through massive changes. Rana Dasgupta's writing is strong and persuasive here, and I will definitely keep an eye open for more of his work.
I would, however, have to say that the second part, which follows the tale of a musician, imagined by the protagonist in the first half, just doesn't work as well. It feels forced, unnecessary and unconvincing. The third time I re-read this book, I just stopped at the end of the first part. Much better that way.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tale of two halfs in this book,
This review is from: Solo (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I really enjoyed the first half of this books which focuses on Ulrich. The story is thrilling, and describes how all the changes in world have impacted the main character. It took me a while to get through the first half, there is not much humour, but I kept coming back to the book to finish it so it must have been interesting.
The second half changes gear and focuses on the eastern block becoming more westernised. For me I found the transition did not work and the flow of the first half was prematurely interrupted. There is an ending where the two stories dove tail. Overall a good read but a book of two halfs.
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