Robert commented on the fact that never before in the history of Zielony Balonik had so many people abandoned a book half way through. Like Ken, he admired the variety of the stories and, after initial reservations about their ‘jumpiness’, he ended up enjoying at least some of the ride. Tom made a similar observation about the fluidity, the constant need for change versus solidity, the desire for preservation. He was intrigued by the apparent juxtaposition of transience, or flightiness, on the one hand and permanence on the other, as in the themes of body preservation or in the tying of events to (somewhat inconsistently detailed) maps. He liked the writing style, the stories’ diversity and the accurate depiction in them of the times we live in. Ken liked what he has read so far, which was about half of the book, though he wasn’t entirely sure he ‘got’ it. But on the other hand, as Ken pointed out, the English word does convey most of the meaning: the book is about ‘flights’ as in mode of transport, ‘flight’ as in escape, and it is ‘flighty’, or whimsical in its setup. None of that is reflected in the translation. Bieguni refers to an obscure old Russian orthodox sect who believe that the world is awash in evil and man must keep moving to avoid getting contaminated by it. We wondered if Flights was an apt translation for the original title. Some are suspended in the middle then come back, others just remain suspended, with no outcome, no moral. When flying, you get to know bits of other people’s lives, all chopped up and inconsequential, just like they are in the book. Flying is such a massive thing these days (she said). The book also appealed to Magda, who is a frequent flyer and often engages in conversations with strangers on planes and at airports. She was impressed by the musings on death and on the need to keep moving in order to avoid getting jaded by the same surroundings. The one about the woman in Moscow touched her most. He and Ken wondered later on in the discussion how much of it was genuine and how much cod psychology.īasia, on the other hand, loved the book and found much she could identify with several of the stories. The writer may have interesting insights into psychology, it being her first profession, but she dishes them out with annoying arrogance.
He found it core-less and tricksy and ended up feeling angry and frustrated by it.
Robin kicked off the discussion on a critical note. It was first published in 2007, awarded the prestigious Nike Literary Prize in 2008, republished in 2015 and translated into English two years later as Flights by Jennifer Croft. The book we discussed on August 5th 2017 was Olga Tokarczuk’s Bieguni. We met to discuss this book on 5 August 2017.
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