Last Love in Constantinople: A Tarot Novel for Divination [Paperback]

Milorad Pavic (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0802313302 | ISBN-13: 978-0802313300 | Publication Date: December 31, 1999 | Edition: 1st pbk. ed

The adventures of a Serbian cavalry officer during the Napoleonic Wars. The novel comes with a pack of tarot cards and the way they turn up determines the sequence in which the chapters should be read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed Serbian novelist PavicAbest known here for his Dictionary of the KhazarsAoffers another nonlinear novel that the reader is invited to experience in multiple ways. The book is divided into 21 chapters, or "keys," which are meant to parallel the 21 cards of the Tarot known as "The Major Arcana." Guides to the cards' meaning and the main patterns for laying them out are included in appendixes to the novel. Recalling Cort zar's Hopscotch in structure, the book's conceptual bravado is undermined by its content, which lacks equal complexity. Centering around two rival families, the Opujics and the Tenckis, who are enmeshed in a series of military and sexual adventures, Pavic's fractured narrative seeks to achieve a hall-of-mirrors effect, but instead it's often simply confusing, an overstuffed short novel that contains enough characters and incidents to make up an epic. Taken on their own, Pavic's brief chapters tend to be compelling and assured, the work of a skilled and unconventional storyteller whose oeuvre is clearly as much influenced by classic episodic works such as Don Quixote and The Decameron as by recent writers like Borges and M rquez. But experimentation gets the best of him here. For all its structural intricacy, Pavic's latest fails to come together into a compelling larger narrative and instead allows its impressive parts to detract and distract from the whole.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Pavi'c has earned international acclaim for his experimental approach to narrative. In his previous novel, The Inner Side of the Wind (LJ 5/1/93), readers could turn chronology on its head by reading the book from the back or the front. The author's newest effort further develops this approach as chronology gives way to the serendipitous nature of fortune. The plot is tied to the meanings of the tarotAancient playing cards used for fortune telling. Pavi'c uses the 22 symbols of the tarot constellation of the Major Arcana as keys to unfold his story and to ponder the secret of human destiny. Set at the turn of the 19th century, the story revolves around the military and romantic exploits of the Tenecki and Opujic families, whose lives are linked by fate. Each chapter adds to the development of the tale, but the work's open-ended nature makes it an ideal vehicle for plot experimentation. Thus, directions are given for laying out the cards (and chapters) for both reading and divination. And it works: whether read sequentially or according to the order of a deal, the novel is a fascinating, surrealistic dreamscape marked by vibrant, folkloric imagery. Recommended for public and academic libraries with adventuresome readers.ASister M. Anna Falbo, CSSF, Villa Maria Coll. Lib., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dufour Editions; 1st pbk. ed edition (December 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802313302
• ISBN-13: 978-0802313300
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy tale of love and wars, February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Last Love in Constantinople: A Tarot novel for divination (Hardcover)

Author of this book should qualify as an inventor of the unique style of writing that incorporates magical realism, surrealism and pure scientific invention. It is true that Milorad Pavic wrote better books than this one, but one must admit that writing a book where each chapter represents untold tale of tarot cards is truly original. And does anyone ever gets the full story after cards are read? It appears that there is always something unsaid or unfinished about card reading - tarot or not. The book treats the story the same. In addition to beatiful illustrations done by Ivan Pavic, book contains clusters of wisdom. My favorite one includes the conversation between two lovers, where one says: "We are happy lovers. Aren't we? And happines makes one stupid. Happiness and wisdom do not go together, just as body and thought do not go together. Because only pain is the thought of the body." For readers looking for something new and different, this is a perfect find.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, July 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Last Love in Constantinople: A Tarot novel for divination (Hardcover)

I have been waiting a long time for this book. I'm almost finished reading it but I cannot seem to get excited about the book. It simply isn't as good as his earlier books. His drawing of strange images is losing its edge and novelty. Because I've enjoyed his early works, I will have to read the book again to see if a second reading will produce better "results."