Wolfgang Wopperer reviewed Buddhas kleiner Finger. by Viktor Pelewin
A "masterpiece of ontological queasiness"?
4 stars
(As a friend of mine called it.) Not quite, in my opinion:
The ontological queasiness the book generates is considerable. Its disorienting shifts between dreams and realities did in fact spill over into my own dreams, including the in-dream realisation of my dreams being dreams – and the anxiety that they might also be alternate realities that could in turn spill over into my "main" reality. So on one level, Pelevin's novel was quite effective.
On another, however, I kept stumbling: The language often falls into the slightly naïve, bucolic and dated sound that Russian literature tends to take on in more conventional German translations; the narrator's perspective is often quite reactionary (and the author's afterword suggests he shares this tendency); the use of Buddhist ideas sometimes borders on misuse; and one of the book's main jokes, the reversal of the protagonists' characterisation compared to Soviet-era lore about them, was …
(As a friend of mine called it.) Not quite, in my opinion:
The ontological queasiness the book generates is considerable. Its disorienting shifts between dreams and realities did in fact spill over into my own dreams, including the in-dream realisation of my dreams being dreams – and the anxiety that they might also be alternate realities that could in turn spill over into my "main" reality. So on one level, Pelevin's novel was quite effective.
On another, however, I kept stumbling: The language often falls into the slightly naïve, bucolic and dated sound that Russian literature tends to take on in more conventional German translations; the narrator's perspective is often quite reactionary (and the author's afterword suggests he shares this tendency); the use of Buddhist ideas sometimes borders on misuse; and one of the book's main jokes, the reversal of the protagonists' characterisation compared to Soviet-era lore about them, was completely lost on me until I read said afterword.
Overall an enjoyable and impactful read, but a few notches below masterpiece level.
