Review by sweetpinabel -- The Nobel Prize by Mois benarroch
Posted: 09 May 2017, 21:37
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Nobel Prize" by Mois benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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In Mois Benarroch's The Nobel Prize, madness walks hand-in-hand with artistic brilliance. When the narrator discovers that his old friend and fellow writer has been institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, he stops by for a visit. However, he soon learns that the writer has a strange malady: every day, he becomes a different character from one of his books. As the writer's condition worsens, the narrator's own grasp on reality becomes increasingly tenuous until the writer wins the Nobel Prize, a turn of events which permanently blurs the line between real and unreal.
This book is funny; laugh out loud, clutch your gut, and roll on the floor funny, in fact. Sometimes pitching to the high-brow set, sometimes pitching to the low, Benarroch entertains with an absurdist wit reminiscent of Vonnegut at his most surreal. The narrator's wry Sephardic humor and eye for the ironic give the novel a certain playfulness that is hard to dislike. Meanwhile, insanity, aliens, and nurses all run wild through the strange and beguiling city of Irxal, adding to the hilarity.
Not all of Benarroch's comedy hits its mark, however. At times, the novel's absurdism can overwhelm the narrative. When it does, the comedy edges (or rather, barrels head-first) into "so bad, it's good" territory. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the extended alien sex scene, where the narrator falls prey to what he calls "a sexual terrorist attack."Unfortunately, due to the scene's over-the-top nature, so does the reader. A similar heavy-handedness extends to the novel's ending, which is presented as a plot twist but feels predictable, if not stale.
Despite the occasional clumsiness, Benarroch's prose is sparse but incisive. This, alongside the novel's slender length ( a brief 62 pages), makes The Nobel Prize a quick and engaging read. The novel also features subtle nods to Picasso, Kafka, and other troubled artists.
There were relatively few grammar and spelling errors. However, the dialogue is formatted incorrectly for an American audience and is off-set with dashes instead of quotation marks.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The inappropriate formatting, over-the-top descriptions, and stale ending left me unenthused. While the novel made me laugh, it often did so for the wrong reasons. I would recommend this book for adults, especially fans of Franz Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut, and Thomas Pyncheon.
******
The Nobel Prize
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Like sweetpinabel's review? Post a comment saying so!
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
In Mois Benarroch's The Nobel Prize, madness walks hand-in-hand with artistic brilliance. When the narrator discovers that his old friend and fellow writer has been institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital, he stops by for a visit. However, he soon learns that the writer has a strange malady: every day, he becomes a different character from one of his books. As the writer's condition worsens, the narrator's own grasp on reality becomes increasingly tenuous until the writer wins the Nobel Prize, a turn of events which permanently blurs the line between real and unreal.
This book is funny; laugh out loud, clutch your gut, and roll on the floor funny, in fact. Sometimes pitching to the high-brow set, sometimes pitching to the low, Benarroch entertains with an absurdist wit reminiscent of Vonnegut at his most surreal. The narrator's wry Sephardic humor and eye for the ironic give the novel a certain playfulness that is hard to dislike. Meanwhile, insanity, aliens, and nurses all run wild through the strange and beguiling city of Irxal, adding to the hilarity.
Not all of Benarroch's comedy hits its mark, however. At times, the novel's absurdism can overwhelm the narrative. When it does, the comedy edges (or rather, barrels head-first) into "so bad, it's good" territory. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the extended alien sex scene, where the narrator falls prey to what he calls "a sexual terrorist attack."Unfortunately, due to the scene's over-the-top nature, so does the reader. A similar heavy-handedness extends to the novel's ending, which is presented as a plot twist but feels predictable, if not stale.
Despite the occasional clumsiness, Benarroch's prose is sparse but incisive. This, alongside the novel's slender length ( a brief 62 pages), makes The Nobel Prize a quick and engaging read. The novel also features subtle nods to Picasso, Kafka, and other troubled artists.
There were relatively few grammar and spelling errors. However, the dialogue is formatted incorrectly for an American audience and is off-set with dashes instead of quotation marks.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The inappropriate formatting, over-the-top descriptions, and stale ending left me unenthused. While the novel made me laugh, it often did so for the wrong reasons. I would recommend this book for adults, especially fans of Franz Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut, and Thomas Pyncheon.
******
The Nobel Prize
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like sweetpinabel's review? Post a comment saying so!