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Away! Away!
Sometimes running away is the bravest option. Or, so believes Rosa, who ditches her husband and home and takes off on the road. Along the way, she encounters the owner of a puppet theater who’s on a mission to conquer the world with his performance of The Snow Queen.
Which character from this old fairy tale will Rosa identify with? With Gerda, searching fruitlessly for her lost love? With Kai, who flees home and his beloved one day without a word? Or with the Snow Queen, who seems to stand aloof above it all?
With magnetic, sparkling prose, Beňová delivers a lively mosaic that ruminates on human relationships, our greatest fears and desires.
118 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2012
2 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
Jana Beňová
19 books39 followersJana Beňová (born 1974) is a Slovakian poet and novelist. She studied at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, graduating with a degree in dramaturgy in 1998. She wrote for a number of local publications, including Dotyky, Fragment and Slovenské Pohľady. She also worked for the daily newspaper SME under a pseudonym. At present, she works at the Theatre Institute in Bratislava.
Her first book of poems Svetloplachý came out in 1993, followed by further collections Lonochod and Nehota. She wrote a novel called Parker (2001), and a collection of short stories, Dvanásť poviedok a Ján Med (2003). In 2008, she published Plán odprevádzania (Seeing People Off), subtitled Café Hyena. This book won the EU Prize for Literature. She has written another novel called Preč! Preč! (Get off! Get off!)
In 2012, she participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.
Her first book of poems Svetloplachý came out in 1993, followed by further collections Lonochod and Nehota. She wrote a novel called Parker (2001), and a collection of short stories, Dvanásť poviedok a Ján Med (2003). In 2008, she published Plán odprevádzania (Seeing People Off), subtitled Café Hyena. This book won the EU Prize for Literature. She has written another novel called Preč! Preč! (Get off! Get off!)
In 2012, she participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 18, 2021
This is an evocative Slovakian novella about a woman who leaves her husband after experiencing a strong urge to flee. As the story plays out, we see that she came of age during Czechoslovakian independence and a recurring motif throughout her life is an inability to remain in structures that conform to traditional norms (school, job, marriage). The narrative is told in fragments, which feel disjointed, but reinforce the themes of the work.
October 16, 2024
Away! Away! não segue uma narrativa linear, é mais uma compilação de fragmentos de texto com monólogos interiores, que mistura realismo com absurdo. A personagem principal vive muita angústia e alienação, embora haja momentos de humor em algumas partes. Foi uma leitura bastante confusa e não me conquistou de todo.
Rosa. I’m trapped. I want to lie in bed next to Son, but instead, I’m sitting at work, a cramp personified. A trapped, bare, blood-soaked winter bone.
She was forever clutching a small animal under her arm. She always dressed him differently, so sometimes it was a dog, other times a wolf, a raven, a mouse, a reindeer, a dolphin or a pangasius.
All that’s left is how to choose the most aesthetic suicide: marriage + 9 to 5 office job, or a revolver. Camus develops this further.
83/198 – Eslováquia
Rosa. I’m trapped. I want to lie in bed next to Son, but instead, I’m sitting at work, a cramp personified. A trapped, bare, blood-soaked winter bone.
She was forever clutching a small animal under her arm. She always dressed him differently, so sometimes it was a dog, other times a wolf, a raven, a mouse, a reindeer, a dolphin or a pangasius.
All that’s left is how to choose the most aesthetic suicide: marriage + 9 to 5 office job, or a revolver. Camus develops this further.
83/198 – Eslováquia
May 15, 2024
reading around the world one book at a time 2024: slovakia
The author touches on a topic that jumps to the eye in books that I usually don’t like: where is the distinction between poetry and prose? Despite writing in what looks like prose, her poetic side shines through in vignettes that feel out of time. I’ve learned that me liking poetry or poetic writing is usually an exception to the rule, and the rule this time won out because i hated the experiece of reading this novella.
I do believe there is an audience for this book, but it isn’t me; I was quite sure that would be the case when I found out the author usually gets compared to Clarice Lispector, whose work I first read las month and Did Not Enjoy.
The author touches on a topic that jumps to the eye in books that I usually don’t like: where is the distinction between poetry and prose? Despite writing in what looks like prose, her poetic side shines through in vignettes that feel out of time. I’ve learned that me liking poetry or poetic writing is usually an exception to the rule, and the rule this time won out because i hated the experiece of reading this novella.
I do believe there is an audience for this book, but it isn’t me; I was quite sure that would be the case when I found out the author usually gets compared to Clarice Lispector, whose work I first read las month and Did Not Enjoy.
March 7, 2019
Prose or poetry, she asks. Poetic compression, precision, and attention to giving text appropriate space for full impact. More or less prosaic content: a long relationship flounders amid the web of details that form the warp and weft of any life. If the story is familiar, the way its told makes more of it. The terse achronological bursts of text in rhythmic interweave recall favorite moments from Carole Maso and David Markson. An exciting, rewarding random library impulse.
July 28, 2019
"Some stories so need telling, that one is forced to constantly look for new listeners - friends, lovers, so that they can tell them that them repeatedly and from the beginning. With all the details, as if they were completely new. Born again."
▫️
A woman leaves her home in Bratislava, Slovakia, hitting the road through Europe. Told in short poetic vignettes, Beňová's character relates humorous slice-of-life occurrences on the road, as well as the people she encounters along the way.
She has an engaging style, employing clever phrase repetitions (the title Away! Away! being her most common) and experimental forms throughout the slim volume.
▫️
A woman leaves her home in Bratislava, Slovakia, hitting the road through Europe. Told in short poetic vignettes, Beňová's character relates humorous slice-of-life occurrences on the road, as well as the people she encounters along the way.
She has an engaging style, employing clever phrase repetitions (the title Away! Away! being her most common) and experimental forms throughout the slim volume.
Read
May 7, 2024I didn’t get it 😭
October 27, 2025
#104 Slovakia
July 27, 2022
The title, of course, speaks of escape. But, in this case, escape means more than getting out of a relationship or away from a city. It also means escaping rules, expectations, and the confines of the self.
If you get sucked into a drone adult life, you create pathways which are harder to deviate from, and you become more homogenized, less like yourself. Therefore, fitting into the incessant monotonous routine of societal expectations is not just an act of assimilation, but one of eventual dissolution. That's why "stolen time" is the best time, because it's all yours. As the author reminds us: "The clock is a warning, a harvester of wasted days."
So, it's not just expanded freedom of the self to go places and do or say things, but also liberation from the self, the body, and the mind. The concepts of masking your true self for others, and blurring who you really are (even to yourself), are key themes. We are compressed by these forces, both from without and within. Yet, even though we are so tightly fitted, we still require being emotionally propped up. What seems like interdependence ends up a lot more like hobbling.
The author asks the intriguing question of whether we can be damaged by being seen. We think we see in the same way, but we don't. That which clings to us, also betrays where we've been. Some can see the struggle, the inner self straining to take flight. The main character tries to hide it, but:
"I live inside myself like in a moving train.
A train, from which someone jumped while it was moving."
The author uses symbolism to describe the claustrophobic shape-shifting nature of relationships. A marriage can quickly move from dynamic and spontaneous to one person being relegated to "cooking, cleaning, laundry, weeping." Suddenly, there's no space for one's thoughts, always intruded upon by an incessant clanging bell of need and attention.
The main character is drawn to true north, as if she has an internal compass which drives her, and compels her to expand all her boundaries and finally make space for herself, on terms of her choosing.
If you get sucked into a drone adult life, you create pathways which are harder to deviate from, and you become more homogenized, less like yourself. Therefore, fitting into the incessant monotonous routine of societal expectations is not just an act of assimilation, but one of eventual dissolution. That's why "stolen time" is the best time, because it's all yours. As the author reminds us: "The clock is a warning, a harvester of wasted days."
So, it's not just expanded freedom of the self to go places and do or say things, but also liberation from the self, the body, and the mind. The concepts of masking your true self for others, and blurring who you really are (even to yourself), are key themes. We are compressed by these forces, both from without and within. Yet, even though we are so tightly fitted, we still require being emotionally propped up. What seems like interdependence ends up a lot more like hobbling.
The author asks the intriguing question of whether we can be damaged by being seen. We think we see in the same way, but we don't. That which clings to us, also betrays where we've been. Some can see the struggle, the inner self straining to take flight. The main character tries to hide it, but:
"I live inside myself like in a moving train.
A train, from which someone jumped while it was moving."
The author uses symbolism to describe the claustrophobic shape-shifting nature of relationships. A marriage can quickly move from dynamic and spontaneous to one person being relegated to "cooking, cleaning, laundry, weeping." Suddenly, there's no space for one's thoughts, always intruded upon by an incessant clanging bell of need and attention.
The main character is drawn to true north, as if she has an internal compass which drives her, and compels her to expand all her boundaries and finally make space for herself, on terms of her choosing.
April 3, 2024
There were some brief moments I enjoyed in this but I did not gel with the writing style at all. I do feel the blurb sells this book to be something it’s not.
January 18, 2026
Reading from all over the world 🌎
Part 1: Slovakia 🇸🇰
“Rosa. Some praise cities —Paris, London, Prague. For me, however, nature is more important—oceans, mountains, God’s country. Separation from it results in anguish and grief. Especially in January. In there, there are no images that console me.”
I wish I could say I liked this but it wasn’t for me at all. I enjoyed some parts but the writing style wasn’t for me. I was really lost most of the times since we only see weird fragmented thoughts from the author :/
Part 1: Slovakia 🇸🇰
“Rosa. Some praise cities —Paris, London, Prague. For me, however, nature is more important—oceans, mountains, God’s country. Separation from it results in anguish and grief. Especially in January. In there, there are no images that console me.”
I wish I could say I liked this but it wasn’t for me at all. I enjoyed some parts but the writing style wasn’t for me. I was really lost most of the times since we only see weird fragmented thoughts from the author :/
August 27, 2020
I'm sure this book means a lot to others but it was a bit too incomprehensible for me to really enjoy and get into. If you like fragmented writing and stream of consciousness style (which I usually do, it just didn’t work for me in this book), this might be more for you. The prose is a lovely lyrical kind and has some really interesting moments. I also don't know anything about The Snow Queen so I think I am just too uniformed to really get this book.
February 2, 2020
If you like Clarice Lispector you will like this novel. If you’re not into post modernism or stream or conscience style, this will not be for you.
January 5, 2024
I’m honestly not sure if anything happened in this book.
February 26, 2021
I’m so glad it was only 99 pages so I could finish it so quickly.
July 3, 2021
"A ked spolu ziju dvaja asociali, a jeden z nich je basnik a druhy prozaik, je jasne, ze komunikacia so svetom ostane na prozaikovi. Basnici stoja vzdy najvyssie. Prozaici im musia sluzit: vybavovat, varit, zariadovat, nakladat na taniere. A znasat nespokojnost s tym, ze spravidla nikdy! Nikdy neuhadnu chut basnika!
Takto drzanu prozaicku potom lahko ocarit."
Zvlastna kniha na prvy pohlad bez deja, Ten skladame postupne z kratkych viet, fragmentov pribehu. Chvilu mi trvalo naladit sa na pomale tempo a roztekany styl, no nasla som v nej jeden z najkrajsich opisov konciaceho sa vztahu v slovenskej literature:
"Kedy sa to teda vlastne zacalo koncit? (...)
"Ako sa to stalo so Sonom? Dvojica, ktora tesne prilieha. Zapada, kazde miesto na tele ma privratenu dvojicu na tele toho druheho. Surodenca. Vsetko pasuje. A potom casom... Sa nebadane nieco poposuva. O kusok popremiestnuje. Miesta na tele sa pohnu. Vydaju sa na cestu."
"Postupne nam usta prestali pasovat. Vzdy bola niekde nejaka fuga, kadial unikal nas spolocny dych."
Takto drzanu prozaicku potom lahko ocarit."
Zvlastna kniha na prvy pohlad bez deja, Ten skladame postupne z kratkych viet, fragmentov pribehu. Chvilu mi trvalo naladit sa na pomale tempo a roztekany styl, no nasla som v nej jeden z najkrajsich opisov konciaceho sa vztahu v slovenskej literature:
"Kedy sa to teda vlastne zacalo koncit? (...)
"Ako sa to stalo so Sonom? Dvojica, ktora tesne prilieha. Zapada, kazde miesto na tele ma privratenu dvojicu na tele toho druheho. Surodenca. Vsetko pasuje. A potom casom... Sa nebadane nieco poposuva. O kusok popremiestnuje. Miesta na tele sa pohnu. Vydaju sa na cestu."
"Postupne nam usta prestali pasovat. Vzdy bola niekde nejaka fuga, kadial unikal nas spolocny dych."
February 3, 2018
Myslela som, ze dám ledva tri hviezdičky. Spočiatku mi štýl písania vôbec nesedel. Kapitoly mi nedávali zmysel. Neskôr, keď som sa začítala a zvykla si, musím oceniť množstvo výstižných postrehov o histórii a úpadku jedného vzťahu.
“Kedy sa to stalo? Ako sa to odohralo? Že tej, ktorá bola spočiatku vzývaná ako bohyňa, sa odrazu odvrkovalo ako učiteľke matematiky?”
“Postupne nám ústa prestali pasovať. Vždy bola niekde nejaká fúga, kadialľ unikal náš spoločný dych.”
“Kedy to teda vlastne začalo končiť?”
“Very soon - money & love’
Mimochodom... dúfam že po otravnom “totálne” sa na mňa po tejto knihe nenalepí ‘dožví” :-)
“Kedy sa to stalo? Ako sa to odohralo? Že tej, ktorá bola spočiatku vzývaná ako bohyňa, sa odrazu odvrkovalo ako učiteľke matematiky?”
“Postupne nám ústa prestali pasovať. Vždy bola niekde nejaká fúga, kadialľ unikal náš spoločný dych.”
“Kedy to teda vlastne začalo končiť?”
“Very soon - money & love’
Mimochodom... dúfam že po otravnom “totálne” sa na mňa po tejto knihe nenalepí ‘dožví” :-)
September 1, 2013
Sú niektoré veci, na ktoré sme sa nenarodili. Lenže ktoré to sú?
Niekedy nás zhynpnotizujú soby, inokedy cudzie mestá, iní muži. A všetko je o pohybe vo vlakoch, na vlastných nohách, myšlienkach.
Keď túto knihu čítam, počujem tam Deža: Ó, vtáááci, Zvláštna škola.
"Próza hovorí o niečom, poézia niečo koná pomocou slov."
Niekedy nás zhynpnotizujú soby, inokedy cudzie mestá, iní muži. A všetko je o pohybe vo vlakoch, na vlastných nohách, myšlienkach.
Keď túto knihu čítam, počujem tam Deža: Ó, vtáááci, Zvláštna škola.
"Próza hovorí o niečom, poézia niečo koná pomocou slov."
December 12, 2018
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'He’s growing from the most hidden and softest parts of my own self. Wild flesh. My own desire.'
This is the latest novel from Jana Beňová, the Slovak author of Seeing People Off, of which you can find my review here: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com... In Away! Away! Rosa leaves her husband behind, the story is short and yet packs a lot of punch in the telling with a few pages of prose. There is a bit of her youth in snippets, such as how much she cried during her first days of high school. Of how yearning is born, be it for Paris (even if it’s just a city within herself) or red wine, cigarettes. Her frustration is evident in her head scratching and intolerance of all the cuckoos, those women who always have something to say, you have to read it. She seems hungry for escape, from work, from her husband, wishing only to distance herself from the struggle of adapting to everything expected of a woman. “And there’s the fear that someone will come along and utter the truth: she’s a fake.” An endless cycle of cuckoos.
Then there are the kisses from which she can’t catch her breath. She is Away Away and on the road, she can’t truly escape can she? She meets Pierre, who wants to join her and Corman on the road taking his puppet’s to put on The Snow Queen. The characters swirl through Rosa’s mind, which character does she resemble, will she remain as wooden as a puppet forever, doomed to be imprisoned by the body of the man she loves, the memories that travel with you even if you attempt escape, because in the end there is no such thing, really, as Away! Away!
It is fiery passion always at the start of love and slowly, with familiarity comes the disenchantment, the want for freedom, to return just to the self again without the restrains of love. The writing is different from other styles and you have to really be still and quiet to catch what is being said. It is a bit like pillaging someone’s private runaway thoughts. Conflicted emotionally, striving for rebirth that never comes because once you’re hatched, well you’re hatched. I know my thoughts are running off the train tracks here, but it’s the mood I am in after finishing this unique book. The writing reminds me of someone purging their thoughts on scraps of paper and just walking away. I have to give a nod to the book cover too, it’s fabulous!
Available Now
Two Dollar Radio
'He’s growing from the most hidden and softest parts of my own self. Wild flesh. My own desire.'
This is the latest novel from Jana Beňová, the Slovak author of Seeing People Off, of which you can find my review here: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com... In Away! Away! Rosa leaves her husband behind, the story is short and yet packs a lot of punch in the telling with a few pages of prose. There is a bit of her youth in snippets, such as how much she cried during her first days of high school. Of how yearning is born, be it for Paris (even if it’s just a city within herself) or red wine, cigarettes. Her frustration is evident in her head scratching and intolerance of all the cuckoos, those women who always have something to say, you have to read it. She seems hungry for escape, from work, from her husband, wishing only to distance herself from the struggle of adapting to everything expected of a woman. “And there’s the fear that someone will come along and utter the truth: she’s a fake.” An endless cycle of cuckoos.
Then there are the kisses from which she can’t catch her breath. She is Away Away and on the road, she can’t truly escape can she? She meets Pierre, who wants to join her and Corman on the road taking his puppet’s to put on The Snow Queen. The characters swirl through Rosa’s mind, which character does she resemble, will she remain as wooden as a puppet forever, doomed to be imprisoned by the body of the man she loves, the memories that travel with you even if you attempt escape, because in the end there is no such thing, really, as Away! Away!
It is fiery passion always at the start of love and slowly, with familiarity comes the disenchantment, the want for freedom, to return just to the self again without the restrains of love. The writing is different from other styles and you have to really be still and quiet to catch what is being said. It is a bit like pillaging someone’s private runaway thoughts. Conflicted emotionally, striving for rebirth that never comes because once you’re hatched, well you’re hatched. I know my thoughts are running off the train tracks here, but it’s the mood I am in after finishing this unique book. The writing reminds me of someone purging their thoughts on scraps of paper and just walking away. I have to give a nod to the book cover too, it’s fabulous!
Available Now
Two Dollar Radio
April 13, 2020
K tejto knihe nepotrebujete záložku, pretože kniha končí skôr akoby ste ju využili - tú záložku.
Pani Beňová si na stránkach poskakuje jedna radosť. A veľmi pekné myšlienky vo vetičkách!! Ako celok ma to možno až tak nezjedlo i keď ostáva povznesenosť aspoň na pár minút, kým nezacítim vyprážanie z kuchyne.
Pani Beňová si na stránkach poskakuje jedna radosť. A veľmi pekné myšlienky vo vetičkách!! Ako celok ma to možno až tak nezjedlo i keď ostáva povznesenosť aspoň na pár minút, kým nezacítim vyprážanie z kuchyne.
January 11, 2025
“In January, taking a walk is useless. You start to feel— enveloped in the gray and grief of lifeless nature-as if you were in a grave. Among the frozen, naked trees, under a nonexistent sky, surrounded by icy earth mimicking the dirty footprints of people—a grave. Except the corpse is missing. There's just a rock, a rock under the ground.” 👀🫶🏻
June 13, 2025
I am not sure what i read, but it was fast 😅 which is the only thing, suggested by the jacket of the book, that made sense. I got all the references, halfway through the book I identified the characters, but to be honest the urge to leave… was never there. And I am a person with urges to leave, so I should know.
December 26, 2023
Not a clue tbh and I kind of feel bad but also I could not for the life of me understand any of this
July 1, 2025
Read around the world challenge: Slovakia 🇸🇰
sometimes to run is the brave thing
sometimes to run is the brave thing
July 21, 2025
Not sure I could tell you the plot, but I enjoyed reading it. An interesting and deliberate attempt to write prose as poetry (or poetry as prose, or both, or neither). I reccomend reading aloud.
April 26, 2021
Jedna z kníh, v ktorej som sa našla. Na veľa stranách. Krátke postrehy, životné & reálne. Netreba litánie na to, aby ste vyjadrili svoju potrebu utiecť. Z práce, ktorá vás ubíja. Zo vzťahu, ktorý vás dusí. Len preč, preč.
Ak budem niekedy písať tak len takto. Lebo aj mne občas prídu na myseľ trefné postrehy. Ale len keď mi moju kreativitu nevycuciava práca v korporáte. #adultlifesucks
Ak budem niekedy písať tak len takto. Lebo aj mne občas prídu na myseľ trefné postrehy. Ale len keď mi moju kreativitu nevycuciava práca v korporáte. #adultlifesucks
Read
April 17, 2022did not understand a single thing that happened
December 8, 2012
kniha je vyskladaná z fragmetárnych zápiskov pocitov a úvah ženského subjektu. do popredia miestami vystupujú prvky Andersenovho príbehu Snehová kráľovná, ktoré dotvárajú rozprávkovú paralelu k vzťahu s jej partnerom v reálnom svete. celok poukazuje na hľadanie a nenachádzanie, odzrkadľuje neutíchajúcu túžbu uniknúť od všetkého kamsi "preč! preč!". v závere však prichádza partnerova (podvedomá?) iniciatíva túto vášeň zastaviť - "Roky milované telo, obklopuje ma ako väzenie."
June 17, 2019
nothing can replace a kiss. the mouth is a small body, a large brain. (taste, breath, connection. everything. essential.)
______________
fresh and slippery--
______________
fresh and slippery--
April 2, 2020
(Slovakia)
This was just plain hard to follow. The Prose was enjoyable although who knows if I understood half of it.
This was just plain hard to follow. The Prose was enjoyable although who knows if I understood half of it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews