In a small town ravaged by a tuberculosis epidemic, two very different men--Robert Maser, a traveling garment salesman who is actually fugitive Nazi leader Martin Borman, and Lars, a local schoolteacher--wander the countryside in search of the world's finest hash.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Torgny Lindgren is widely hailed as one of the most prominent literary figures on the world scene today. He has been awarded the August Prize, the Swedish National Book Award, and the Nordic Prize, and his novels have been published in more than twenty-five languages. In 1991, Lindgren was elected to the Swedish Academy, the eighteen-member committee that selects the honorees for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Two seekers pursue the perfect plate of hash, and, by extension, the force of life in Lindgren's sparkling novel (after Bathsheba and The Way of the Serpent). In 1947, a newspaper reporter is fired for fabricating stories ("The dramatic week-long struggle to rescue an elk from Hob™ck Marsh," his editor accuses him, "never took place.... [and t]here has never been a turkey farm ravaged by a bear in your district") and forbidden to write another word. For more than five decades the reporter doesn't put pen to paper. As a 107-year-old inmate in the Sunnybank Rest Home, he returns, after his editor dies, to the story he left unfinished, which concerned two newcomers to the Swedish village of Avaback, site of a tuberculosis epidemic. Schoolteacher Lars Hogstrom picked the post ("pulmonary tuberculosis [is] closest to my heart," he quips) while Martin Bormann was an escaped Nazi war criminal then calling himself Robert Maser. United by their love of music and passion for hash, Maser (posing as a traveling fabric salesman) and Hogstrom had set off on a quest to sample all of the region's hashes, a journey at once comical and sublime. Hash, whose foul ingredients (hooves, offal, entrails, grain, etc.) add up to a surprising delicacy, symbolizes life, love, art and mercy. Tuberculosis a "fickle" disease that leads, Maser suggests, to "[m]odernist poetry. Atonal music. Anarchic political programs.... pure and simple idiocy," represents, among other things, death's power to make life more precious. Above all, this sly and gleeful novel is about storytelling itself, about how fiction even fiction cooked up from a recipe of grotesqueries and absurdity can contain fundamental truths.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 9558716-75
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # GRP102577951
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: HPB-Emerald, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_401257337
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. No Jacket. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.85. Seller Inventory # G1585674087I4N10
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Inkberry Books, Niwot, CO, U.S.A.
hardback. Condition: USED_FINE. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 236 p. ; 22 cm. Seller Inventory # 1007176
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Ergodebooks, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1. In a small town ravaged by a tuberculosis epidemic, two very different men--Robert Maser, a traveling garment salesman who is actually fugitive Nazi leader Martin Borman, and Lars, a local schoolteacher--wander the countryside in search of the world's finest hash. Seller Inventory # SONG1585674087
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Good condition. This is the average used book, that has all pages or leaves present, but may include writing. Book may be ex-library with stamps and stickers. 0.81. Seller Inventory # 353-1585674087-gdd
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 0.81. Seller Inventory # 1585674087-2-3
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: zenosbooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket. 1st edition. Seller Inventory # z35331
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: The Book Spot, Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks370396
Quantity: 1 available