september is fast approaching

i have been trying to get through some of the books i purchased in europe before the (eep!:/) school year starts.


i have polished off a few one of them being this,

after hearing much hype about her in poland, i was curious to read dorota maslowska's highly acclaimed debut novel. it's like nothing i have ever read. her style of writing is definitely very unique. poetic ramblings/observations and misadventures of her protagonist (nails) and his group of doped up politically burnt out friends living in a haze in eastern europe. the book is one long inhale with no comfortable release. i often found i wasn't able to discern reality from a hallucinatory  trip or nail's fabricated reality. i do regret not picking this book up in polish first. i was a victim to my lazy ways (reading in english is currently much easier for me than my mother tongue). i suspect it's close to impossible to render into english properly. her style of writing is so specific and the book is full of so much slang that must be much more relevant and humorous in polish. language makes up most of the novel. i suppose that's why the book exploded in europe and isn't as well received in north america. nonetheless i recommend this book, it's fast, colourful and pulls you into the amphetamine trip and the occasional funny inventions of communism and post communist life. not to mention the author was only 19!!! years old when she published this book. i have also heard good things (from the internet :/) about the movie which came out last year, snow white and russian red by Xawery Żuławski