I usually give a questionable book at least a hundred pages before I give up on it. Not this book - I stopped reading at about page 25. It's a long soliloquy; it's one claim to fame seems to be that it is written in one long paragraph. Not strictly true - there are four paragraphs. I can sum up what I think it is about in one sentence - "If I can't win, I won't play." It's not about music, as you might think. It's about giving up when you can't be the best. I read far enough to learn that the narrator did not pursue a musical career because he loved music, but to spite his family. He abandoned his career because he could not play as good as Glenn Gould. There seems to be no plot, no setting, and very little characterization. It's just the narrator rambling on and on in incoherent sentences. Perhaps that is a problem with the translation. The first thing in this edition is an apology from the translator.
I don't have much sympathy with the narrator, of course. I am an amateur musician and writer. Should I give up playing the piano because I am not Glenn Gould? Should I give up writing because I can't get published? I know one thing - I gave up on reading this book.
Link to Amazon:
The Loser: A Novel
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