Invitation to a Beheading

Good book to read for the language and imagination of a great writer from Russia, but who wrote either in French or English, I can't remember. I read the English version since it's the only language I can read, but all the same I was happy with the time spent reading it. Dude is in jail for the crime of Moral turpitude. Which is never explained what it is exactly he's done. He sits in...more

Good book to read for the language and imagination of a great writer from Russia, but who wrote either in French or English, I can't remember. I read the English version since it's the only language I can read, but all the same I was happy with the time spent reading it. Dude is in jail for the crime of Moral turpitude. Which is never explained what it is exactly he's done. He sits in jail as the jailers and his family visit and they're so insane. He is about to be executed by beheading but there's a lot more to the story. It's a comedy in a sense.   hide

Poetic. Tormenting. Rather than comparing this book to a Kafka novel, it reminds me somewhat of Camus' "The Stranger"...only we don't know what Cincinnatus' crime is. This book must be read slowly and hopefully in a quiet place in order to experience Cincinnatus' thoughts, imagery, fantasy, bewilderment, and hope as he waits and describes everything in his tiny world...more

Poetic. Tormenting. Rather than comparing this book to a Kafka novel, it reminds me somewhat of Camus' "The Stranger"...only we don't know what Cincinnatus' crime is. This book must be read slowly and hopefully in a quiet place in order to experience Cincinnatus' thoughts, imagery, fantasy, bewilderment, and hope as he waits and describes everything in his tiny world a short time before he is to be beheaded for a crime he doesn't understand and on a day that is kept secret from him.   hide

Kafkaesk!

Dont like the rhythm of the book.