Memoirs Found In A Bathtub review
May. 12th, 2010 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe only reason I bought Memoirs Found In A Bathtub by Stanislaw Lem (in audiobook format) was because it was narrated by Jeff Woodman, whose voice I fell in love with when listening to the Lord John Grey series by Diana Gabaldon.
Initially, I had a big shock, as it turns out Mr Woodman's deliciously aristocratic tones were put on for the sole benefit of Lord John, and he's actually American! The horror! Still, once I'd got used to the different accent, he was just as good a narrator, and had to be, since Memoirs is a very odd book and must have been quite difficult to record.
The only word for it is Kafkaesque.
It tells the story of a hapless man, wandering the headquarters of a vast, secret agency of some kind. He is assigned a mission at the start, but cannot get anyone to explain to him what it is. He moves from room to room, having bizarre encounters and incomprehensible conversations with an assortment of baffling individuals, becoming more and more convinced that the whole thing is some huge test or conspiracy, and that either everyone knows what's going on except him, or no-one does.
It's gloriously nonsensical, and anyone who has enjoyed Kafka's The Castle will doubtless be as entertained as I was.
Not recommended to anyone who likes explanations or actual plot...
Initially, I had a big shock, as it turns out Mr Woodman's deliciously aristocratic tones were put on for the sole benefit of Lord John, and he's actually American! The horror! Still, once I'd got used to the different accent, he was just as good a narrator, and had to be, since Memoirs is a very odd book and must have been quite difficult to record.
The only word for it is Kafkaesque.
It tells the story of a hapless man, wandering the headquarters of a vast, secret agency of some kind. He is assigned a mission at the start, but cannot get anyone to explain to him what it is. He moves from room to room, having bizarre encounters and incomprehensible conversations with an assortment of baffling individuals, becoming more and more convinced that the whole thing is some huge test or conspiracy, and that either everyone knows what's going on except him, or no-one does.
It's gloriously nonsensical, and anyone who has enjoyed Kafka's The Castle will doubtless be as entertained as I was.
Not recommended to anyone who likes explanations or actual plot...
