Degete mici

by Filip Florian

„Inainte de-a se chema Degete mici, romanul meu a avut alte doua titluri: unul (cam) grav, Anotimpurile gropii comune, celalalt (usor) caricatural, Dromaderul si osemintele. Nu-mi displaceau, nici nu ma incintau. Sufereau, in orice caz, de-o boala comuna: pareau sa indice sau macar sa sugereze tema cartii, centrul ei de greutate, insa o faceau in chip mincinos, puneau accentul unde nu e cazul. Exista un mormint colectiv, personajele au de-a face direct ori indirect cu oseminte fara virsta si fara identitate, dar nu primeaza planul lucrurilor palpabile, al intimplarilor imediate. M-au interesat reactiile, pozitionarile, parerile, povestile (totdeauna mai atitatoare, mai adinci) de dinaintea povestii derulate la timpul prezent. Un prieten bun mi-a spus ca Degete mici ar fi un roman politic. Alt prieten bun mi-a spus ca nici pomeneala sa fie asa ceva. Eu cred ca au dreptate.” (Filip Florian)

Genres: Romania, Fiction, Romanian Literature, Historical Fiction, Archaeology

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Between 1990-99, he worked as a journalist and editor for the Cuvîntul (The Word) weekly and then as a correspondent for the Free Europe and Deutsche Welle radio stations. He spent five years in the mountain town of Sinaia writing his first novel Little Fingers, which was published to great critical acclaim in 2005. Greeted as the work of a distinctive and original new voice, the novel was awarded the România literarã (Literary Romania) magazine Prize for Debut, the Romanian Writers’ Union Prize for Best Prose Debut, and the National Union of Employers Prize for Excellence.

Together with Matei Florian, his younger brother, Filip Florian recently published the unusual dialogic novel The Băiuț Alley Lads (2006), also warmly praised by critics and the reading public alike. In 2007, second editions of both books were printed. Little Fingers has been published in Hungary (Magvetö, 2008), Germany (Suhrkamp, 2008) and Poland (Czarne, 2008) and will be published in the USA (Harcourt, 2009) and Slovenia (Didakta, 2009). The Băiuț Alley Lads is also due to be published by Czarne in 2009, and is also due to be published in Spain (Acantilado) and Bulgaria (Panorama +). The Days of the King has been published in Hungary (Magvetö, 2009), and will be published in the USA in 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Reviews

[Ema · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a novel by a Romanian author in a long time. I, along with many other young people here, tend to avoid local literature because a)it may be full of social commentary and communism issues (people are already fed up with it, yet it may prove interesting for a foreigner); b)it might be brimming with obscene words (although there is a market for that, I'm sure); or simply c)it may turn out to be a disappointment. Surely, this could be a reaction of a country whose members are not overly patriotic, read less and less and are not able to come to terms with their place (and time) in history.

Fortunately, Filip Florian's Little Fingers follows none of the above criteria. It is indeed anchored in a reality that is purely Romanian, but doesn't overstep the line in either direction. For a debut novel it is a really nice surprise and, with its help, I've managed to make a step closer towards reconciliation with my own country's literature.

The prose is dense, with long and winding paragraphs, with an abundance of parentheses, resembling the writing of South American authors. I was surprised (and glad) to discover a touch of magical realism, which I love. There is a whole cast of characters here, which is at the same time the strength and the weakness of the novel. Strength - because Filip Florian is a masterful portrayer, endowing his characters with unforgettable traits; weakness - because we sometimes get the feeling of disparate episodes, with no apparent connection. The novel leaves the impression of being rather a collection of short stories, brought together by a common place and time.

In a small mountain resort, among the ruins of a Roman settlement, people discover a mass grave. The local police chief believes that the human remains are the result of a mass murder during communism, which prompts an investigation. The archaeologists affirm that the bones are much older, yet the press immediately embraces the story of a communist massacre. Because of the political implications and general mistrust, an impartial party is called upon the site - a team of Argentinian specialists, who will decide the remains' true provenience.

This is the background story, upon which Filip Florian brings to life his wonderfully portrayed characters: a landlady who divines in coffee cups and dreams of a knight in shining armor; a widow who collects cats and who was once in love with an English nobleman; the oldest man in town who has a habit of catching (and cooking) pigeons; the old man's wife who found a better companion, Jesus; a colonel who collects little fingers. Through these pages emerges even the portrait of a country, Argentina, touched by the tormenting disease called 'los desaparecidos'.

But the most memorable amongst all is Gherghe the orphan/Onufrie the monk, whose magical lock of hair has forced him to constantly wear a hat. Since he experienced a miracle escape from a labor camp, he has been dominated by visions of Virgin Mary; he spends many years in seclusion, writing the Bible from memory, on tree barks; his time is measured by the cutting of his strange tuft of hair. In a country where religion prevails, and the cult of saints is at high esteem, we witness through Onufrie the birth of another saint.

There are a lot of references to Romanian social and political life that a foreigner might miss, so I'll try to cover a few that I've noticed:
*reference to hammer and sickle - of course, one of the symbols of communism;
*the Argentine anthropologists were to be received at the train station with meat rolls and beer by a local branch of the ruling political party. This is a reference to the general mocking of our Social Democratic Party, which on a previous elective year tried to earn some votes by giving free beer and meat rolls (a traditional dish);
*the Gander is the nickname of Nicolae Dobrin, a famous Romanian football player, born in Pitești (my hometown);
*Pitești is also the unnamed town mentioned for its tulips and horrific penitentiary, where brainwashing experiments were carried out during communism.

[Stela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesant roman, Degete mici al lui Filip Florian, ușor diferit de ceea ce formează matricea noastră stilistică (ca să folosesc un termen blagian), deși n-aș merge pînă acolo încît să-l compar cu literatura sud-americană, cum s-a aventurat o parte a criticii s-o facă.

Mie mi-a adus mai degrabă în minte nuvela lui Mircea Eliade, Pe strada Mîntuleasa, pentru că, la fel ca fostul director de școală Zaharia Fărîmă, arheologul Petruș se pierde într-o naratiune fără sfîrșit, cu multiple fire epice fără aparentă legătură, care cresc în neștire ca moțul lui Onufrie, într-o totală indiferență față de pretextul epic – groapa comună descoperită într-un orășel de provincie.

La fel ca în nuvela lui Eliade, două voci narative dirijează textul: una auctorială, cealaltă la persoana I, numai că în Degete mici (și aceasta este o noutate interesantă in romanul lui Filip Florian) ele se suprapun pînă la confuzie uneori, fără să se transforme totuși vreodată în stil indirect liber:

Pe urmă, timpurile verbelor și-au găsit un făgaș comun, persoanele povestitorilor, întîi și a treia (ultima cu atîtea variante și identități) au devenit una singură…

În sfîrșit, iarăși ca-n Eliade, sacrul și profanul se amestecă neașteptat, ducînd cu gîndul pentru o clipă, e adevărat, la magic-realismul sud-american, în lipsa unui nume adecvat pentru iconismul naiv de tip balcanic :

… a treia oară se pogorîse Maica Domnului din ceruri ca să-i arate sprijin și încredere, se rezemase cu umărul Ei firav de cutia televizorului…

Firele epice se amestecă și se desfac într-o multitudine de registre, de la cel jurnalistic cu componentele sale senzatională, politică sau informativă, la cel sentimental, ironic sau istoric, rezultînd mai multe povești șeherezadești, care se conțin una pe alta ca păpușile rusești: două povești cadru (descoperirea gropii comune, cu reacțiile / investigațiile din jurul ei și relatarea arheologului Petruș, mult mai puțin interesat de descoperire decît de ulcerul lui), care generează alte povești mai mult sau mai puțin în legătură cu primele două : comoara din perete a lui tanti Paulina, povestea de dragoste trăită de lady Eugenia Embury în perioada interbelică, revelațiile și moțul rebel al călugărului Onufrie, acei „los desaparecidos” care au determinat specializarea în antropologie criminalistică a celor cinci argentinieni veniți să investigheze rămășițele din castrul roman etc.

Nici una dintre povești nu devine predominantă, toate sînt misterioase „degete mici”, colecționate de cîte un colonel-magistrat care a rămas, cîndva, demult, fără al său. O subtilă metaforă a artei, care fără să fie funcțională în sens pragmatic (cum nici degetul mic nu e pentru mînă) se insinuează inexorabil în cele mai neașteptate suflete. Atunci cînd nu rămîne, desigur, zidită într-o grotă, ca scrierile pe scoarța de copac ale călugărului Onufrie.

[Claudiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi-a placut stilul autorului (e clar ca Florian este un scriitor talentat), dar nu cred ca forma romanului m-a facut sa ii dau doar trei stele.
Mi s-a parut o lectura greoaie, dar digerabila in comparatie cu alte romane romanesti.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Because of my negative opinions about this book, I translated several of the Romanian reviews for this see what readers who read it in its original language had to say about it. Every Romanian, without exception, says that it is brilliant. However, nearly all reviewers for the English translation say that they had to plod through the book, that it is confusing, or that they gave up on it. So my conclusion is that either a) The translator didn't do such a great job, b) English speakers can't appreciate Romanian literature, or c) English speakers aren't so bright. Since I read it and didn't like it, I'd hate to think "c" to be true.

This Romanian author writes in the same tradition as many Spanish authors I've read; the sentences go on forever and ever. It isn't out of the ordinary for a sentence to go on for 10 lines with 6 commas and 3 parenthetical tangents. This would have been just fine if I wasn't confused about who was doing what, when, and where in each sentence. It's not uncommon for a half-paged sentence in this book to switch between characters, subjects, and time periods. I think that, for the author, this is a game. In fact, in one place he specifically says that he thinks it would be a really great exercise for school children to have to take such a super-long sentence and write one main idea for the sentence. Sometimes I wondered, though, if the sentences couldn't have been made more understandable if the translator had changed around a few misplaced modifiers and clarified a few pronouns. Then again, it's possible that the author's writing was indecipherable in the first place. However, I doubt this very much because of all the glowing Romanian reviews.

I have to admit that I read the majority of this book without ever really comprehending what was happening. There were moments of lucidity where I enjoyed very strange stories about camels or about a monk whose hair grew at the rate of 4 inches every 8 hours (or was it 8 inches every 4 hours?). At times I felt like I was entering the strange world of a storyteller like Italo Calvino. And then I'd lose the storyline altogether.

I considered stopping my reading at page 50, but I plodded on, convinced by the few glowing reviews by English-speaking readers that I might finally find a jewel in the rough. I had no such luck. I managed to find the secret of the mass grave uncovered at the beginning of the novel. But, frankly, if that storyline is what brings you to the book (like it did me), please be forewarned that that particular tangent only lasts for 5 or 6 pages. Everything else is sometimes delicious but usually infinitely scannable filler story with a few weird twists for good measure.

Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Monica Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This debut novel by Romanian writer, Filip Florian, is a novel that begins with children discovering a mass grave while they are out playing. Set in a small Romanian town post-Communism, Little Fingers is a mystery with no answer. This is a novel I expected would engage me, leaving me waiting for more of his work to be translated into English. It did engage me, and I do want see more, but definitely not in the way that I thought it would. There is a lack of focus and unsettling digressive narrative turns that make for a convoluted story. I am still wondering what to make of it. It seems like there is a protagonist, but by the end of the novel, you can barely remember anything about him.

Petrus is the main character, at least the character we are led to believe might be a constant, who is the key to all that unravels throughout the novel. His Auntie Paulina is the eccentric he visits and listens her to as she spins unrelated stories about herself and others.There's her friend, Eugenia Embury, who reads cards and whom Petrus also visits and listens to while he falls in love with her granddaughter, Jojo. Characters are introduced and stories told, but we aren't given anything to grab onto instead floating on the subtle waves of Florian's prose. This is what is so confounding about Little Fingers, just when you think that the story has been laid out and is going somewhere, another one starts. There is tremendous imagination in use when he recounts dreams of Petrus, when he describes the oldest man in the town and when he recounts the story of Father Onufrie. The stories of the people introduced go on too long and only a few seem to converge towards the end of the novel.

The town calls in five Argentinian archaeologists who have experience with mass graves to aid in discovering what was the cause of this tragedy. There is a long history about the Argentinian mass graves that is compelling and gives us much more than the mass grave that we are introduced to originally and made to wonder if this was a result of Communist abuse. There is the mystery of who is stealing the bones of the little fingers from the grave site.

But there is rarely the feeling of tragedy to this tragedy. As a reader, at some point, needs to feel that there is a sense of tragedy along with 'a horrific incident'. Perhaps there is point to this-if a tragedy like this was allowed to take place, there were those who had to look the other way and ignore the tragedy. As reader, we are left to look at history the way many people read about tragedies in history-from a book, far removed from the devastation of the incident. And it is only those who lived through it who can relay the true appalling nature of tragedy. Maybe that is why Petrus spends time introducing many of the older characters and letting them wander through the narrative dispersing facts that at some point may matter. But for the reader, it's too difficult to discern what is important and what is 'color; so to speak. This quote from Petrus is strangely indicative of how Florian gives us the story:

Later, when it was barely half past eight, realized something unusual: I was continually looking at the clock. Not one of the books on the nightstand tempted me. Reviewing my observations in my notebook was useless. At one point I turned on the radio, and quickly turned it off. I put some clothes in the water to soak, but did not get around to washing them. I went out into the yard with a rug. The sun was burning, quite brightly and after scorching my back for a little while, it made me want something: a cold shower. In the cupboard I had plenty of food, but I did not touch it, so as to arouse my hunger as much as possible before experiencing the culinary abilities of the oldest man in town.

Florian gives us everything in hopes of producing a climactic moment at the end of the book, but it is too disjointed to create an impact or justify the nebulous narrative. Not to say that Florian isn't talented, he is. The prose is beautiful and the imagination is lush, but it reads like a debut. Florian, a journalist before writing this novel, is a writer yet to reach his full potential. The issue of translation doesn't seem to factor in too strongly because it reads well and his elegant style is conveyed appropriately. Structure is not the fault of the translator. It would be easy to fault the translator because the book did win several prizes. Perhaps this is one of the books that doesn't translate well. The history of a nation can sometimes only be felt and understood by people who live there and no amount of translation could make someone else understand.

[Lavinia · Rating 3 out of 5]

despre degete mici citisem recenzii foarte bune si stiam ca autorul a luat si ceva premiu pentru debut in proza.

cel mai mult mi-a placut la florian limbajul. desi e un autor tinar [n. 1968], si m-as fi asteptat sa aud din gura lui [pana, mai concret] modernisme, englezisme si de ce nu, niscai obscenitati, am avut placuta surpriza sa descopar un limbaj neaos, provincial, usor arhaic. episoadele care-l descriu pe calugarul onufrie poarta cu ele ceva special, aducind a basm si m-au dus cu gindul la zahei orbul al lui voiculescu.

subiectul nu m-a fermecat extraordinar: intr-un orasel de provincie [statiune balneoclimaterica] se descopera o groapa comuna in mijlocul unui castru roman si toata actiunea cartii se invirte in jurul acestei gropi. povestea e vazuta prin ochii personajului principal, tinarul arheolog petrus. o mentiune speciala pentru excelenta creionarea personajelor [vezi onufrie, doamna paulina sau lady embury].

[Morgan Freiberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 I’m so sorry lol

First off let me say I really enjoyed some of this book. The characters were generally interesting and intriguing and some sections/stories were really engaging.

My first and smallest issue with the book is the title and summary in the inside flap. The book is not about little fingers going missing from a mysterious mass grave. There’s maybe 1 sentence in the middle and a few pages at the end about it. Not a huge deal but it’s what originally drew me to the book. It felt much more like a character study focusing on a few potentially interesting folks whose main (only?) connection with each other is that they’re living in the same world at the same time, since many of them don’t interact.

My main issue is the writing itself. Or maybe it’s the translation? Perhaps everything makes perfect sense in Romanian. Maybe the sentence structure, literary devices, and grammar is specific to Romanian.

Many of the sentences are very long which, in and of itself, is not an issue. The problem is that many of those sentences have multiple tangents within them and the grammar/structure/diction makes it unclear what is happening to who and when. I’d argue some sentences are just completely unreadable. For the first ~2/3 of the book I was really trying to understand what each sentence meant and several times I just gave up and moved on. The only reason I was able to finish this book is because i stopped caring about the details. It almost reads as someone who was trying to write a very high brow literary masterpiece but did not execute it well. But again, it’s impossible for me to tell if it is just the translation.

In the end I’m just glad I bought this secondhand.

[John Brookes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place in a remote town and mountain resort named only as W, but apparently based on the actual resort of Sinaia.

Romania itself is located in South-eastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. The country shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the north-east, and Bulgaria to the south.

Interestingly, the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in the "Cave With Bones" in present day Romania. The remains are approximately 42,000 years old and as Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first such people to have entered the continent.

This is perhaps a fitting snipet of information for “Little Fingers” by (then) debut novelist Filip Florian. The main premise of this work revolves around a huge pit containing a significant number of human remains, found as the result of a recent excavation of a fort on the outskirts of the town. Added to this premise is the strange fact that the little fingers of these skeletons appear to be missing – or are going missing.

This discovery acts as a catalyst to bring out a number of underlying tensions within the town (and, one assumes, Romania as a whole). Views are polarised: the Chief of Police is convinced that these are proof of a recent atrocity under Communist rule; the main protagonist of the novel – the archaeologist Petrus whose excavation is postponed due to the discovery – believes them to be the remains of plague victims; and the visionary local priest links them to his visions of the Virgin Mary as a divine intervention of sorts.

It must be said, however, that this description – and that given by the publishers – is in danger of painting a picture of a more coherent narrative than actually exists. Rather, this initial scenario acts as a focal point to hang a number of very disparate and unconnected portraits of key figures within the town. Petrus’ account probably comes nearest to a narrative account, depicting his boredom at his enforced absence from the archaeological site, and his blossoming relationship with a daughter of one of his Aunt’s friends in the town. Elsewhere in this work however, things are much less structured: ranging from an effectively comical account of the life of a photographers’ camel through to a long (some might say overlong) account of the history of the local priest, Onufrie. The arrival, late on in the novel, of a group of Argentinean ‘experts’ intent on ascertaining if these remains really are the result of a recent governmental massacre, is obviously intended to bring in a degree of political satire in relating the recent Argentinean junta to that of Romania’s recent Communist past, but I have to say much of this intent went over my head.

That said, despite the fractured narrative I did enjoy this book – it was well written, had some interesting characters, and depicted life in post-Ceauşescu Romania well (albeit in the confines of a small mountain resort). The characters were uniformly fascinating – and diverse – and Florian maintained a rich vein of humour throughout.

[anca dc · Rating 3 out of 5]

N-am chef sa ii scriu review, doar sa imi scriu ca aici e prima data cind m-am intrebat cit de usor sau greu e sa fii scriitor. Si nu ma refer la talent, ci la inspiratie. Capitolul cinci, cel cu Onufrie, ii de vina pentru aceasta dilema. Poveste mai complicata de atit putea sa ii faca?! :)))

[Bookaholic]

Mă opresc aici asupra romanului de debut, Degete mici – o carte matură, care anunţă deja în totalitate profilul stilistic şi chiar tematic al scriitorului. Filip Florian este – aşa cum s-a observat adesea – un scriitor estetizant, care topeşte de regulă tema tratată în pasta limbajului, în substanţa lingvistică: frazarea lungă, domoală, ocolitoare – asociind imagini şi tonalităţi diverse – tinde să de-dramatizeze tema, să domesticească şi facă suportabile sensurile grave ale istoriei, respectiv existenţei personale. Căci temele abordate sunt, de regulă, legate de memoria şi existenţa individuală, puse în raport cu istoria generală, al cărei curs e văzut când la modul fatalist (cum se întâmplă aici), când mai relativist, lăsând loc şi arbitrarului ori accidentului (aşa cum sună o consideraţie în Toate bufniţele, de pildă).

Important e faptul că, prin reflecţiile sale asupra cursului individual, integrat în istoria la scară generală – incluzând aici lunga perioada comunistă a trecutului nostru recent – Filip Florian se situează într-o direcţie specifică a prozei româneşti de astăzi, aceea interesată de recuperarea trecutului, de reevaluarea lui şi de poziţionarea în raport cu acest trecut. Această direcţie s-ar opune, aşa-zicând prozei de tip minimalist, mizerabilist, care se cantonează în prezent şi în cotidianul cel mai mărunt, mai banal, mai monoton. (recenzie: http://bookaholic.ro/degete-mici-fili...)

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow starter, picked up once the story became more character centered. My enthusiasm for reading this waned whenever the book lumbered off onto its tangents of political history, soccer, the church and other areas in which I simply had no interest; at one point I actually muttered an invective directed at the author.

[Iulia Albota · Rating 1 out of 5]

Books like this one are the reason why the great majority of Romanian readers avoid Romanian authors at all costs. No kidding, I’d bet on this. While it’s somehow comforting to discover a Romanian book that seems to have reached some foreign audience, it’s sad to see how many of the foreign readers had hopes about it based on enthusiastic Romanian reviews and then wondered if the actual book hadn’t got lost in translation. No guys, I don’t think the translations were that bad. The original book is a total mess itself.

The style feels forced and pretentious, with overly long phrases, constant and annoying digressions and paragraphs that go on for pages, which makes the text quite difficult to follow. The narrator jumps from one subject to another for reasons I couldn’t fathom, spends pages recounting facts that have absolutely nothing to do with what seems (at least at the beginning) to be the subject of the book and the storytelling is all over the place.

Actually, I felt like there was no real story at all. The book is just a collection of portraits and sketches of several potentially engaging characters that have little to nothing to do with each other, just happen to find themselves in the same city at the same time. In some cases, we get to learn their backgrounds and the stories of their lives told in short, in others we get to see them and get access to their thoughts in a certain (very short) moment of their lives only to barely see them mentioned afterwards… and all this amounts to absolutely nothing. No, seriously, nothing happens. No one really gets to do anything and nobody gets any closure.

At the end I was left wondering what message the author tried to convey with this book. The story is so unfocused that you can’t even tell what or who it’s really about. The only good thing about it was the cover art. :)) I really, really love the cover art.

Unfortunately this is the kind of literature that Romanian publishers and literary critics love to promote: very concentrated on the stylistic aspects of the prose, cryptic, sometimes seemingly trying to tackle some philosophic ideas with more or less success, severely lacking in all other aspects. I’m gonna be harsh and blunt: I think this is the kind of prose that appeals mostly to snobs and pseudointellectuals. The more unintelligible, aimless and plotless the story and the more ornate or convoluted the style, the more profound and intellectual they perceive the book to be.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toţi oamenii aceia care nu rezistaseră tentaţiei de a redacta monografia oraşului lor – un învăţător, un avocat, doi călugări, un medic veterinar şi un şef de gară – trăiseră cu convingerea că, după ce castrul roman fusese părăsit (sau incendiat sau lovit de o molimă nimicitoare sau bătut de Dumnezeu), pământul îl înghiţise definitiv. Credeau că straturi de nisip, argile, sedimente de tot felul şi cernoziom se aşezaseră de-a lungul istoriei, groase, dense, peste Principia, peste thermae, canabae şi horreum, îşi spuneau că o vegetaţie carnală, agresivă ocupase colinele. O dată cu precizarea originilor urbei şi a primelor atestări documentare, autorii acelor cronici duioase lăsau vestigiile deoparte, până în 1932, când, notau ei, o entuziastă echipă de arheologi scosese la iveală câteva ziduri surpate. Momentul era consemnat succint, dar ceea ce părea să impresioneze nu era apariţia ruinelor, ieşirea lor la lumină după două milenii de întuneric, ci prezenţa în grupul profesorilor şi al studenţilor a unei făpturi speciale. Existau referiri ostile sau admirative (în nici un caz neutre) la acel personaj, iar în lucrarea avocatului Stratulat, alături de-un portret în cărbune, întâlneai o descriere amănunţită a femeii tunse foarte scurt, purtând întotdeauna pantaloni de călărie şi cizme cu carâmb, posesoarea unui portţigaret din chihlimbar lung de douăzeci de centimetri.

[Raluca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stilul greoi, lipsa dialogului reduce cumva cursivitatea si afecteaza dinamismul. O carte care a ajuns la a 5 a editie, a primit premii, dar nu m-a impresionat nici prin subiect nici prin stil.

E autohtona prin evenimentele pe care le prezinta si tipologiile oamenilor. Personajele care se remarca, beneficiind de o descriere mai mare: un calugar, un arheolog (sau antropolog?). Intriga de la inceput, de unde provin osemintele descoperite in groapa comuna, este rezolvata la final, unde se si face legatura dintre personaje. Mi s-a parut ca tot corpul cartii e facut din ‘paranteze’ pentru a descrie personajele si a prezenta fapte care nu se leaga si nu au niciun punct comun.

Ce mi-a placut: unele situatii amuzante create si paralela istorica dintre Romania socialista si evenimentele similare din Argentina. Frumos construite cauzele si simptomele bolii ‘los desaparecidos’.

[Katharine Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, though it is not always an easy read. The prose is dense and I had to take my time and sometimes re-read parts. I have visited Romania once; I am sure there were some cultural references that I missed in this book but I think it helped to have visited as I could anchor the story better and visualise the events. It is more of a series of interlinked stories than a single narrative thread.

Overall I'm glad to have read it. It takes a bit of effort, but I found it rewarding and worth making the effort for.

[Piotr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cudna opowieść, upleciona niczym wielowymiarowa pajęczyna. Nie dziwię się Nataszy Goerke, że tak ładnie o niej napisała. Kolejna książka, która zdaje się potwierdzać moje podejrzenia: realizm magiczny, po tym jak wyprowadził się na dobre zza Atlantyku, jak błąkał się - Bóg jeden wie gdzie - odnalazł się w Rumunii. I świetnie - na nasz pożytek! - się tam miewa.

[Bogdan Romanovschi · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Degete mici' mi-a amintit de un film sârbesc în care regizorul tot adăuga personaje minore în roluri ridicole și irelevante pentru poveste, pâna când probabil și-a inclus fiecare prieten, rudă si obligație.
Dl. Filip pare să faca același lucru cu fiecare personaj pe care l-a gândit vreodată, desi probabil nu pentru destula vreme să îl facă memorabil sau măcar vag interesant.
De evitat.

[Loud Rocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte exceptionala, care necesita insa putina rabdare.

[laurentiu]

0

[Laur Lupu · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf

[Daniela Ducaru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nu am regasit autorul din Toate bufnitele. Am parcurs greu cartea si mi-a scapat... printre degete...

[Ioana Adriana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Foarte ciudat scrisa, idei de-a valma. Firul narativ e usor de urmarit, dar sunt idei ciudate, parca nici nu ar fi legata povestea.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Două lucruri mi-au plăcut la cartea asta: limbajul provincial și poveștile personajelor. Într-adevăr, mă așteptam să conțină neologisme, expresii și interjecții care sunt "pe val" la ora actuală, dar, în schimb, m-am găsit citind un roman scris ca cele pe care le citeam în liceu și-n generală.

Personajele sunt conturate extraordinar. Mi-au plăcut poveștile doamnei Embury, a doamnei Paulina, a lui Dumitru M., cel mai bătrân om din oraș, a colonelului Spiru care colecționa degete mici și cea a călugărului Onufrie, deși poate nu era nevoie să se întindă atât de mult cu ultima.

Nu mi-a plăcut povestea argentinienilor, cu fotbalul. Îmi doream așa de mult să înțeleg care e tot fâsul cu maladia "los desaparecidos", pentru că avea un nume așa misterios și interesant, dar autorul a amestecat-o cu toate datele alea despre fotbal și m-am pierdut pur și simplu. E... fotbal, ce naiba? N-am mai făcut nici cel mai mic efort să mă întorc ca să înțeleg. Și ce caută fotbalul lângă călugărul Onufrie?

Dar să rein la "intriga" principală: Care-i treaba cu groapa comună? Crimă politică? Epidemie? Se pomenește de nenumărate ori de groapa asta cu schelete descoperită de un copil, se menționează agitația din jurul ei, dar, cu toate că pare să fie subiectul central al cărții, nu pare să fie subiectul central al cărții. Personajele nu au legătură cu ea, atât doar că s-a întâmplat să se afle prin preajmă la momentul tărăboiului. De fapt, personajele nu par să aibă mare legătură nici măcar unul cu cealălalt. Singurul lucru pe care îl au în comun e orașul în care locuiesc și o oarecare implicare în investigația privitoare la groapă, deși nici de asta nu sunt prea sigură.

Mă întreb acum, de ce oare nu a structurat Filip Florian cartea ca pe o colecție de povestiri scurte? Ar fi primit mai multe aprecieri pentru descrierile separate ale personajelor (motiv pentru care i-am dat și cele două stele).

Totuși, în final, întrebarea rămâne: Care-i treaba cu groapa comună?

[J.R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d count this novel a disappointment if I hadn’t worked so hard to find some enjoyment in it.

The problems are the plot is obtuse, the characters too divergent, the sentences too long and the whole swamped under a blanket of every adjective in the dictionary. The author is said to be a journalist and the book had rave reviews abroad. So is the fault that of the translator and not his? I have no idea.

I hate to give up on a book. It’s only 202 pages. So I plowed on, even when there were countless times I wanted to just go on to something else.

There are some good things in the book. The monk Onufrie, for instance. Had the author stuck with his tale and ignored the other digressions I might have enjoyed the story. I mean, when you have a mad monk with a tuft of hair that won’t stop growing, born of a crazed mother in a swamp, what’s not to like?

And he’s not the only engaging character. There are lots them, each with their own interesting story. But like the catalyst of the novel—the discovery of a mass grave—none are allowed resolution. As fast as we meet and become interested in one, the author is on to another. Maybe that’s what he intends to tell us—nothing ever is resolved in life.

Maybe so. But I prefer my novels to have a beginning, middle and end.

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Fingers is an interesting book that has two major problems - it does not fully cohere and it's almost untranslatable; I read only the English version - i wish I would have the Romanian original - but like with Days of the King (which is a model of clarity compared to this one) the translation is very convoluted, likely trying to imitate the original and again it just does not work resulting in very stilted and dense (in a negative way) prose. Using 5 sentences when one would work is not an indication of literary sophistication imho at least in English, while again I sort of can imagine the book working well in Romanian which is a more complex language than the English of the 21st century.

There are again moments of brilliance and the book is worth reading for them - there is a play on first versus third person - and the historical vignettes are excellent, but a lot of the contemporary stuff was so-so maybe because it did not cohere and the last part with the Argentinians was really pointless imho.

All in all I would read Little Fingers (C) in Romanian if i had the chance since I feel i would appreciate it more than in this presumably faithful but missing the point translation

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know whether to give this book 2 stars or 3, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt and gave it 3 (mostly because I'm a tad biased because my friend gave this to me).

It's not that this book is bad, I just think it might be the translation that made this book somewhat a mess. The language and the way Florian (or the translator?) put it together is really quite beautiful, but besides that, nothing else really makes sense. The sentences are very long but I could get past that. What I couldn't get past were the stories that didn't seem to have to do with the main story at all, like the one about the camel (which was actually my favorite part). Actually, the main story wasn't even focused on that much. Another thing that was very confusing was the fact that the stories went from the POV of one character to another without any explanation or heads up.

I can't even explain my feelings on this book to be honest, because on one hand I really liked the language, and where there were descriptions, they were very nice, but on the other hand, it was a rather confusing book that didn't focus on any one thing in particular and didn't tell you when the point of view was going to change, or when it did change.

[Derek John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Filip Florian is a master of irrelevant detail. There were so many adjectives and adverbs stacked upon each other that this novel, which should have taken a weekend to read, took two whole weeks! And I still have no idea what this book was even about. There were so many distracting flashbacks, and sub-stories that I simply couldn't follow. After I had finally pushed through I looked at online cliff notes for the book and I didn't recognize a single thing. The only reason I am giving this book two stars instead of one is because the book was originally written in Greek, and all reviews of the Greek version that I saw were rated very high. So I am assuming that the poor performance of this novel is due to the translator and not the author himself.

[Plamen Enchev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Около стените на древна римска крепост, намираща се в румънско градче, са открити кости. Оказва се, че това е масов гроб. Случаят добива популярност, а полиция и археолози започват да разследват находката. Появяват се и бивши политически затворници, според които откритието е масов гроб от времето на комунизма. В градчето пристигат дори аржентински антрополози, които да извършат датиране на костите. В процеса на изследване на скелетите се оказва, че масово липсват кутретата от ръцете.
Още: https://flame16.blogspot.com/2018/07/...