Landscape Painted with Tea [Paperback]

Milorad Pavic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1991

By the author of the highly acclaimed literary bestseller "Dictionary of the Khazars", "Landscape Painted with Tea", Milorad Pavic's second novel, is a tale of mysterious quest that is part modern Odyssey and part crossword puzzle. It begins with the story of a brilliant but failed architect in Belgrade and his search for his father, an officer who vanished in Greece during World War II. The truth about his fate--some of it set in motion 2,000 years ago and some of it by the Nazis-- is raveled in the history and secrets of Mount Athos, the most ancient of all monasteries, perched atop its inaccessible mountain on the Aegean.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Serbo-Croation

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage International ed edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679733442
• ISBN-13: 978-0679733447
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #504,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best novels ever written!, June 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Landscape Painted with Tea (Paperback)

Milorad Pavic has been my favourite writer since I chanced upon a copy of Dictionary of the Khazars in 1993. Everything about that novel was enthralling, and I wondered how he would ever be able to equal it. So I approached Landscape Painted With Tea with some trepidation. However, in my view, it is superior to Dictionary, in language, themes, plot, ideas, conceits, characters, and everything else you can imagine. Most of the reviews I've read concerning Landscape are cautious, usually praising its originality but expressing doubts about the rigidity of its structure. Take it from me, this novel is beautifully constructed, but unlike Dictionary, an appreciation of its complex structure isn't necessary for an engrossing read. However, the reason I prefer it to Dictionary is because of its extreme lyricism -- Pavic's style is phenomenal. His use of outrageous metaphors, stupendous conceits and absurdly profound dialogue is intoxicating, like angel-flavoured absinthe. Anyway, the point of this review is to express my enormous love for Pavic's fiction, and this novel in particular. He's knocked most of my other favourite writers down like skittles. Indeed, I find myself growing increasingly bored with all other writers, and I find myself waiting for his new books like an impatient lover.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical and Playful, March 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Landscape Painted with Tea (Paperback)

It's difficult to comment on this book because this is a book that almost defies comment. One has simply read it...or one hasn't. It is the lucky one who has.

In this lyrical and playful novel, Milorad Pavic tells the story of Belgrade architect, Atanas Svilar and his journey through life, a journey he hopes will answer the question, "why had his life been barren and futile, despite the enormous effort invested?"

His journey leads him to an ancient monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, that holy mountain reserved for men, a mountain where no woman has set foot for centuries, the mountain where Atanas' father disappeared during World War II.

Since Atanas doesn't find all he is seeking on Mount Athos, in Book Two, he abandons his family, changes his name to Atanas Fyodorovich Razin and moves to the United States with the beautiful Vitacha Milut. There, something goes his way at last, and he becomes wealthy, at least in a material sense.

Like Pavic's first book, "Dictionary of the Khazars," "Landscape Painted With Tea," is a playful enterprise containing chapters that can be read "down" or "across," much in the same way a crossword puzzle is read. The person who solves the solution to the ultimate puzzle is said to have the key to the solution to the puzzle of life. While I didn't find the key to life in these pages, I did find fun and enjoyment, and, not surprisingly, quite a bit of beauty. So much so that I'm recommending the book to all of my friends.

If stark realism is what you enjoy, you'd probably be better off skipping this book. Those who love writers who can spin magic with words, who are playful and inventive as well as creative, will no doubt love "Landscape Painted With Tea" as much as I did. "Dictionary of the Khazars" made me a Pavic fan; "Landscape Painted With Tea" has simply cemented my admiration for this playful and inventive author.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Knees Need To Read, Thumbs Only Twiddle, February 11, 2004

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Landscape Painted with Tea (Paperback)

As exceptional Serbian author, Milorad Pavic always says, "The future always starts from the large intestine." This may be taken as either prophecy or advice. In either case, you should begin the rest of your future by getting ahold of this novel. Of course, as he says, "Whoever wants the second half of life has to remain in the first half of everything else." Let's hope this does not mean your large intestine. But if we concentrate on Pavic' story, rather than on his aphorisms, I think we can quickly conclude the dude is a genius, though one who is not easily understood. What can we say about a heroine who falls in love with you, the reader ? The protagonist with several pasts has several futures too. He is a Yugoslav architect whose designs are never built, but in one future he builds exact replicas of Tito's luxury palaces in the New World. His father was a Yugoslav soldier who disappeared in Greece, or else he was a Russian mathematician who could shovel snow extremely well. The hero winds up extremely rich, but lonely. Or maybe lonely, but extremely rich. Does it have to do with those people who like to work in sync with others or those who prefer to be lone wolves ? Pasts intersect and divide, the future is over though it hasn't started either. Yes, you will dig the leaping non-sequiturs that lead to larger truths or else you will be left scratching your head. Hey, if you always admired Bob Dylan's great songs like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" or if you found Dali's paintings intriguing, you are going to grok this novel in all its fullness. If however, you want a linear, conventional book, forget this one completely.

"All readers of this book are entirely imaginary. Any resemblance to actual readers is coincidental." M. Pavic So be warned.

When I was very little, I had a small purple stone which I swallowed. I never let on to anyone. I felt purple inside. So when I saw a purple stripe on the cover of this book in the library, I knew I would either read it or eat it. Now I can't remember what happened, but as a character exclaims in LANDSCAPE PAINTED WITH TEA, "In sleep, one doesn't age." The same is true with volumes in your stomach. Or was that `brain' ? You can read this book like a crossword puzzle---literally. The author took great pains in its construction, which recalls (Argentine author) Julio Cortazar in some bizarre way. I read the novel in the conventional fashion (or I ate it with a knife and fork) not because I have a stolid or military personality, as Pavic would claim, but because I admire turtles, who always take the shortest route to the pond. The Tajiks say that eels never swim towards the sun. The readers of this book will not wind up enlightened either, but they will be delighted by the author's wit and imagination. Or they will get a stomach ache.