M. Sarki's Reviews > War & War

What a brilliant form in which to go mad on the page. The entire book jamb-packed with lovely words given to us from a very talented writer, all except, that is, the word venue which the translator decided was the correct word for the Hungarian version, or at least what Krasznahorkai wanted us to read. I doubt it very much. No way would Krasznahorkai use a popular word venue in place of a specific place. Too smart. Too gifted to resort to our popular culture's crappy, and ill-informed language. The translator, George Szirtes, used the word venue twice that I can remember and it made me almost want to quit the book, but Krasznahorkai kept coming at me with his language which George, I must admit, did an excellent job with the language, except for my initial complaint above, that is, you know, as if we are going to now move the trial of George Szirtes to a new venue other than this chosen place.

This book is only for the strong. A difficult book, but I found it so pleasing I did not want it to end. Fact is, I agreed with the lead character Korin. Call me mad, but Korin knew his shit. From the opening scenes on the bridge with the bad-ass children with knives through the violent executions later on in Brooklyn, Krasznahorkai kept me intrigued. And he did it all with his gifted use of language and his power of speech. That is, speeches that rolled on for sometimes three or four pages of single sentences. And sometimes funny, and most times clever, and generally in the spirit of angst. A wonderful time was had by me in reading this great novel. Could not recommend a novel more than this one. I'll let the smarter ones here break it down for you. Let me just say I told you so. We'll call it the rhythm of my own black despair.

Note that Krasznahorkai is also Béla Tarr's principle screenwriter for his films including the epic Sátántangó. My personal favorites include:
Kárhozat / Damnation (1988)
Sátántangó / Satan's Tango (1994)
Werckmeister harmóniák / Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
A londoni férfi / The Man from London (2007)

Matter of fact, I just finished watching The Man From London yesterday and that film's screenplay was also written by none other than László Krasznahorkai as were the ones mentioned above.