Time Shelter by Georgi GospodinovMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
"A nation was a group of people who have agreed to jointly remember and forget the same things."
Inconsolable.
That's the perfect one-word summary of this brave book that tried to explain today's mad world.
What if countries could vote not just for political parties or politicians, but also for what time period they want to live in?
Bulgarian author Gospodinov points out: "There was a certain injustice in that -- choosing the time the next generation would live in. As happens in all elections, actually."
It's a very scary thing when what is supposed to be a speculative fiction novel comes across as nonfiction in some parts.
"When you have no future, you vote for the past."
While Gospodinov analyzes Bulgarian history in detail, and expands his lens to include other European countries, the ebb and flow of the cycles of nationalism and the political ideologies of the 20th century have also impacted my country, and his observations ring true for the Philippines as it does to all nations. This had the potential to be a universally moving book.
Unfortunately, it does not provide any easy answers apart from "all things end, might as well find joy now because sooner or later we all suffer a kind of dementia."
As far as Booker Prize winners go, this was certainly unique. I also enjoyed the references to a literary life with books. They help anchor uncertain times in some kind of frame narrative that hopefully provides some meaning. But the romantic in me longed for a more hopeful ending than this book provided.
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