Customer Reviews

White Raven

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4 star:		(1)
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This is an impressive book (indeed there is a lot of impressive literature coming out of Poland these days). The author manages to grip the reader's attention from the start and holds it, unwaveringly, to the very end. It is a tale of a group of misfits - almost social outcasts (except for the fact that these are Poles in the post-Communist era). Meaningless lives are anaesthetised by vodka and sex. Endless empty days merge into one - whether they are in the past or the present. It is a tale of an escape from reality that ends up being an escape from a threat that never really surfaces, is always there (is it real or is it imagined?). And all this takes place in a world devoid of colour, the white snowy landscape of the Carpathian mountains... It is an allegory of what happened after the Poles gained their "freedom" - and lost everything...

So this is the first of Stasiuk's books to be translated into English... it's a powerful novel, and beautifully written. Contrary to the Publishers' Weekly summary, it is not clear that an act of murder has indeed been comitted; the evidence in the book leans against it.

This story unfortunately doesn't showcase Stasiuk's greatest gift, which is his uncanny ability to be incredibly precise both in his introspection and his perceptions of the world. This sounds abstract, but think of Saul Bellow, except that Stasiuk is more immediate, and more respectful of the strangeness of the world. I am thinking of some of the essays in Tekturowy Samolot, or of the travel sketches he published recently in Rzeczpospolita. So far, only Polish readers have been able to enjoy these.

White Raven is a beautiful introduction to the magnificent and charismatic writing of Andrzej Stasiuk, Poland's foremost writer of the modern day. The fact that he has written many books and has been steadily receiving recognition and acclaim throughout Poland and abroad should highlight the fact that his work has both appeal and importance. This book is one of the most profound works in which the characters live and experience their own lives, we are drawn to them as we begin to read for they are painted with feeling to the extent that we are transported into the story. The moment that we start to live in this story, we begin to stand next to the characters and seemingly we are also part of that group, part of that journey. The book is written in such a way as if our character could easily fit alongside, and our own thoughts and lives are integrated into the framework of that wonderful tale in the turn from adolescence to the beginnings of adulthood. Highlighted are the true fears, anxiety, anguish, doubt, and the fight to become for oneself, to discover oneself...and sometimes to be left without an answer to all of life's internal struggles and questions. There is no unnecessary materialistic decor, the book is strictly a journey of the spirit, of the unending questions in life...no matter the age of the individual, nor the place from which he comes. The book comes from a writer with a fantastic sensibility of emotion and experience. I would highly recommend this original work to anyone who truely loves great literature!