Customer Reviews

Autumn in Peking

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the weirdest novel I've ever read, and also one of the funniest. Even the title is nonsensical. No, the action it's not in Autumn and certainly not in Peking.

But it's unbelievable as so many absurdities reflect real life situations. The promotion of fools to places of power, the uselessness of most tasks done in nowadays, the frequently imbecilic and time wasting meetings so popular in the corporate world, the fact that many religious prayers and rotes are words memorized and most persons don't even think about what they mean much less putting them in practice, the irresponsability of many professionals protected by silly rules (for example, and an gross exageration, that the Doctors could kill at will as many persons as they saved). All done with an excellent sense of humour, interesting characters, a love triangle and a priceless plot - the construction of a railway to the middle of a desert where nobody goes. And obviously it must go through the only building that exists in the entire desert!!!!

If you can read in French I would strongly advise you to do so. Vian is a master word weaver and much is lost if read it in other language, even with a good translation.

This book is totally awesome. I have read all Boris Vian's books in French and this translation is good. Some of his books are a little out-there for some people but I would highly recommend reading this book to everyone.