This book is a very slim volume and can be read in an hour or so. I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss. Each of these also feels quite realistic in his own way, and all move towards a ending that is both tragic and rather ridiculous, much like the real world events Lernet-Holenia so lightly limns.Ī really lovely novella-highly recommended. Leonardo here is little more than a sketch and yet he feels very real, particularly as he confronts the absurdity, the lack of logic, of the other characters. This is more a jeu d'esprit than real historical fiction but it's so perfectly done that I don't care. There is no excess, no deep backstory, no wallowing in family history or past emotions-what you see is what you get but it's all done so skillfully, with such verve and elan and a beautifully balanced understanding of what the story can handle, how deep it can go. Like all of Lernet-Holenia's work, this is wry and dry and streamlined down to the bone. Just a beautiful little book, this was so refreshing as I slog through overwritten, overlong contemporary novels that have taken me weeks now to read and which I begin to wonder if I'm ever going to finish.
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