It was a real struggle for me to get into Traveler of the Century by
Andrés Neuman,
Nick Caistor (Translator), Lorenza García (Translator). I don't know how many times I put it aside because of the seemingly endless philosophical and political discussions that took place in the salon and elsewhere. Finally, after asking "Is he, the author, going anywhere with this?" I did something I rarely do. I skipped forward and read the end of the book. Surprise!
I'll try not to spoil it for those who have not read it, but something I found out by reading the end made me want to find out how it came to be. It didn't spoil it for me. In fact, it made the salon discussions and some of the other conversations between the main characters much more interesting. So much so that I went back for a more careful reading of earlier parts of the book.
Maybe it's not the best way to read a novel, but it certainly worked for me this time. Now that I've finished the book I'm sorry I have to return it to the library. Another thing I rarely do is buy a book I've already read and that is available at the library but in this case I'll probably buy the paperback (hope I can find a good used copy).
How interesting and I'm so glad you persevered with this one! I must admit that I absolutely loved Traveller, especially the characterisation, although I'm sure missed many points and subtleties within the wide-ranging salon discussions. It got to the stage where I was concentrating more on the social politics and interactions between the salon members and less on the 'meat' of their discussions.
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