<< 1 >>
Rating:  Summary: Exceptional! Review: Don't miss reading this book. The Palace of Dreams ranks just below Camus' The Stranger as one of the most fascinating and truly illuminating book I have read. It is throughly enjoyable, magical and a gripping page-turner. The story appeals in so many levels that reading it once is not enough. Not only should you buy this book for yourself, but do purchase extra copies to pass on to your friends.
Rating:  Summary: "They 're Selling Postcards of the Hanging...." Review: Dreams flow into Istanbul from all corners of the Ottoman Empire to be sorted, interpreted, stored, or acted upon by an enormous bureaucracy of faceless figures. Wheels operate within wheels: nobody really knows what is going on except a few puppet-masters at the top. The innocent scion of a high, powerful family begins work in the Tabir Sarrail, that cavernous palace of endless blank corridors which, like Dr. Who�s Tardis, is much bigger inside than out. Sinister goings on, always just out of sight, almost out of earshot. Mark-Alem learns as he goes. His meteoric rise may have ominous significance. Maybe not. He has to make sense out of the senseless. He has to give meaning to the meaningless. Interpretation is everything, but a wrong twist could lead to fatal disaster. Are his fellow workers in on some dark secrets that he has failed to decipher ? Or are they just as they seem, friendly and struggling ? The world of power dazzles and depresses simultaneously. When is Ismail Kadare going to get the Nobel Prize ? I have asked this before. THE PALACE OF DREAMS is yet another masterpiece by this Albanian author. It has links to �The Three-Arched Bridge�, another of his great novels. While the tenor of THE PALACE OF DREAMS is entirely different from the latter work, they do the share the enviable quality of operating on several levels, which to my mind, always indicates the highest craftsmanship. The present volume resembles Kafka more than a little, perhaps also is reminiscent of Sartre�s play �No Exit�. At one level it is such a nightmarish fantasy, a bad dream played out in a couple hundred pages. At a second level, Kadare succeeded in writing a magnificent replica of the workings of secret security agencies within the administration of Communist era nations like Albania. Part terror, part nightmare, he sets his story in the 19th century Ottoman empire to avoid personal repercussions (the book was banned in Albania anyway). �Anyone who ruled over the dark zones of men�s lives wielded enormous power.� Dream Palace or Sigurimi, the Albanian security agency ? It does not matter. By linking the protagonist to the Quprili family, a genuine Albanian-born dynasty of Ottoman officials and administrators, and to the recital of Albanian folk epics, Kadare ties the dream palace to actual history in a very clever way. The voice of the people must eventually be heard--it is only a question of when. This is a most clever book and Kadare fans should not miss it. If you haven�t started reading him yet, you could well begin here.
Rating:  Summary: "They 're Selling Postcards of the Hanging...." Review: Dreams flow into Istanbul from all corners of the Ottoman Empire to be sorted, interpreted, stored, or acted upon by an enormous bureaucracy of faceless figures. Wheels operate within wheels: nobody really knows what is going on except a few puppet-masters at the top. The innocent scion of a high, powerful family begins work in the Tabir Sarrail, that cavernous palace of endless blank corridors which, like Dr. Who's Tardis, is much bigger inside than out. Sinister goings on, always just out of sight, almost out of earshot. Mark-Alem learns as he goes. His meteoric rise may have ominous significance. Maybe not. He has to make sense out of the senseless. He has to give meaning to the meaningless. Interpretation is everything, but a wrong twist could lead to fatal disaster. Are his fellow workers in on some dark secrets that he has failed to decipher ? Or are they just as they seem, friendly and struggling ? The world of power dazzles and depresses simultaneously. When is Ismail Kadare going to get the Nobel Prize ? I have asked this before. THE PALACE OF DREAMS is yet another masterpiece by this Albanian author. It has links to 'The Three-Arched Bridge', another of his great novels. While the tenor of THE PALACE OF DREAMS is entirely different from the latter work, they do the share the enviable quality of operating on several levels, which to my mind, always indicates the highest craftsmanship. The present volume resembles Kafka more than a little, perhaps also is reminiscent of Sartre's play 'No Exit'. At one level it is such a nightmarish fantasy, a bad dream played out in a couple hundred pages. At a second level, Kadare succeeded in writing a magnificent replica of the workings of secret security agencies within the administration of Communist era nations like Albania. Part terror, part nightmare, he sets his story in the 19th century Ottoman empire to avoid personal repercussions (the book was banned in Albania anyway). 'Anyone who ruled over the dark zones of men's lives wielded enormous power.' Dream Palace or Sigurimi, the Albanian security agency ? It does not matter. By linking the protagonist to the Quprili family, a genuine Albanian-born dynasty of Ottoman officials and administrators, and to the recital of Albanian folk epics, Kadare ties the dream palace to actual history in a very clever way. The voice of the people must eventually be heard--it is only a question of when. This is a most clever book and Kadare fans should not miss it. If you haven't started reading him yet, you could well begin here.
Rating:  Summary: A dangerous ghost state Review: In Kadare's hallucinatory novel, the most important ministry in the country is the one where the dreams of all its citizens are interpreted. A monstrous bureaucratic organization collects those dreams and a monstrous herd of employees classifies and analyzes them. The interpretation of the apparently most important dream is presented every week to the sultan, because it could contain crucial information about the destiny of the country and the ruling families. The whole country has really turned into a ghost state, where people perform ghost work: Absurdistan. Of course, this macabre ministry is only a veil for the bitter power struggle between the powerful. A bad dream interpretation could create an opportunity to lash out at the other throne contenders with deadly consequences for the innocent common citizens. The for the common man seemingly blind fatality is in fact the result of a deadly fight for control and power between the mighty. Kadare's novel, inspired by Enver Hoxha's Albania, is a masterful portrait of the totalitarian state, where real life is replaced by hallucinations. The government's most important role is to try to control even the dreams of its citizens. A dark nightmarish regime. This highly political work is composed and reads like a thriller. A real masterpiece.
Rating:  Summary: Engaging, masterfully crafted Review: This book is a testimony to the imposition of power on people - in this case, the controlling (and crushing) of potentially rebellious dreams against the State. Kadare does a good job of creating the tension that reverberates throughout the book. I was gripped with suspense and fear everytime Mark-Alem walked in silence through the dark, creepy corridors that stretched for miles on end. That really gave me the chills. Kadare also has a good grasp of his words. The interpretation of the book (originally in French) is superb - very easy to read, and manages to deliver the story in good style. The story is engaging, and it draws you into the world of the Tabir Sarrail, where reality and dreams are indistinguishable. It makes you want to finish the book in one sitting.
Rating:  Summary: An intoxicating, dazzling nightmare Review: This is a small masterpiece of a book. "The Palace of Dreams" is the place where the dreams and nightmares of all the citizens of the Ottoman Empire are obsessively examined by experts, looking for omens and potential threats to the state. This is the premise of this provocative, hallucinating voyage into the absurdity and ultimate terror of totalitarian power. "The Palace of Dreams" is a powerful examination of fear and of the way it eventually turns a man's soul into stone, into another lifeless fragment of a monstrous sacrificial stone. A sinister allegory. A unique book. Don't miss it.
Rating:  Summary: A necessary book Review: _Palace of Dreams_ relates the story of a young man from a powerful Albanian family who goes to work in the Ottoman bureaucracy. He spends his days analyzing dreams submitted by the empire's citizens, searching for clues about the government's future. There are elements of Kafka here: although his subject is political intrigue, Kadare isn't interested in relating a detailed plot, but rather with summoning a strong sense of unease in the reader. As a result, this is a thriller in the best sense of the word. An extraordinary tension supports the whole novel, and the passages which are meant to scare or shock us succeed quite admirably. This is a gripping book, which I would recommend to anyone: probably the most universally accessible work Kadare has produced.
<< 1 >>
|