Customer Reviews

Landscape Painted with Tea

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4 star:		(3)
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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.

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.

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.

Usually, I do not read the reviews when buying books, and similarly, never write them. However, when it comes to writings of Milorad Pavic, it is difficult to remain indifferent. Unfortunately, he is not too well known in the United States, and only few of his books had been translated. Pavic's characters, or rather, settings, seem to be appearing from a different dimension, the existence of which, we all feel instinctually, but unable to grasp with our senses. Landscape Painted with Tea, is in many ways similar to the paintings of Salvador Dali; it is surreal, it can be perceived on many different levels, each with its own beauty and mystery, and yet, being a part of the whole. Also, people either love it, or hate it, no one, however, remains cold or untouched by it. Just as the unusual twists of Pavic's imagination lead his unsuspecting readers deeper and deeper, layer by layer, into a world where fantasy and reality meet, so the readers' perception alters depending on the surroundings. Thus, if you read one of his novels during the day, your impression will be different from that of the morning or evening readings, and so on. Landscape Painted with Tea also can be compared to a dream, sometimes, strange, and sometimes leaving you guess about its true meaning, but always fascinating. Well, a praise, however high, will not suffice - you must read it for yourself! I hope, you will enjoy it!

Usually, I do not read the reviews when buying books, and similarly, never write them. However, when it comes to writings of Milorad Pavic, it is difficult to remain indifferent. Unfortunately, he is not too well known in the United States, and only few of his books had been translated. Pavic's characters, or rather, settings, seem to be appearing from a different dimension, the existence of which, we all feel instinctually, but unable to grasp with our senses. Landscape Painted with Tea, is in many ways similar to the paintings of Salvador Dali; it is surreal, it can be perceived on many different levels, each with its own beauty and mystery, and yet, being a part of the whole. Also, people either love it, or hate it, no one, however, remains cold or untouched by it. Just as the unusual twists of Pavic's imagination lead his unsuspecting readers deeper and deeper, layer by layer, into a world where fantasy and reality meet, so the readers' perception alters depending on the surroundings. Thus, if you read one of his novels during the day, your impression will be different from that of the morning or evening readings, and so on. Landscape Painted with Tea also can be compared to a dream, sometimes, strange, and sometimes leaving you guess about its true meaning, but always fascinating. Well, a praise, however high, will not suffice - you must read it for yourself! I hope, you will enjoy it!

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.

I have read most of Pavic's novels, in beautiful Russian translation which is reasonably close to the original Serbian. This is very far from his best work. Pavic is good at weaving anecdotes and short stories into brief and highly original novels, as in "The Khazar Dictionary" which gained him an international following. However, in "A Landscape...", by far his longest novel, the strategy fizzles. The anecdotes and digressions drag on and don't lead anywhere, the threads come undone. The last 100 pages fall apart completely. Pavic has run out of steam with this one, writing far more pages than he is capable of piecing together.

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.

Milorad Pavic's writing is absurd, amusing, and fantastical in the magical realism tradition. It is also poetical and aphoristic, "Some women cannot manage a house and theirs are always in disarray. Others cannot manage their own souls and these are in disarray. Things have to be straightened up at the right time; afterward is too late. Because any similarity between the house and the soul ceases in that afterward. Vitacha obviously did not know that" (p. 164). Vitacha, the heroine of Landscape Painted with Tea, has a very tumultuous life in East Central Europe. The stories of Vitacha and her second husband Atanas Svilar, later Atanas Razin, form the backbone of this book. But what is most engaging for the reader about this , and perhaps all of Pavi''s writing is the format. Book One is a mostly continuous story. Book Two is "A Novel for Crossword Fans." Two small crossword puzzles are given with clues. Each of the following chapters are entitled by number and direction according to the crossword puzzle. The solution to the crossword puzzle corresponds to the words composing the index (reordered of course). Due to the structure of the novel the reader is free to read in a variety of orders, and as with choose your own adventure stories, the ending is entirely dependent on the reader!

I used to read Landscape Painted with tea on the train in Seoul inbetween English classes. One day, I lost it on the train. I am looking for another hardcover copy. I feel enshrouded in colored mist when I read Pavic. His words are like beads of golden sweat dripping from an ancient genie. His writing style is similar to Arwei Kwei Armah in The Beautiful Ones are not yet born. Tea is one of my favourite books. I hope I find it again.