OBOC - Bulgaria

For a long time I had put off reading Kafka as I had assumed that it would be one of those books which only the literary minded will appreciate, and of course that changed completely for me after Metamorphosis - but that's another story which will be duly filed under OBOC-Czech Republic :)

So why this long opening lead - well I felt the same when I picked up Viktor Paskov's Ballad for Georg Henig as many reviewers compared him to Kafka. Well, I don't know if that comparison is valid or not, but all I can say is I loved this novella!!

Set in Bulgaria in the 1950's, the book is about the Czech Georg Henig a once famous master craftsman of violins, who goes unappreciated and even completely forgotten with the passage of time in Sofia. He is discovered dying of hunger by the young Viktor and his dad when they seek him out to build a sideboard for Viktor's mom.

Poverty of every kind engulfs the novel - be it scarcity of food, money and other resources ("owning a sideboard is like owning a three story villa with a pool"), or cultural poverty - under appreciation of arts, artists and anything sublime or even poverty of love and faith in God or in fellow beings... a reflection by Paskov of Bulgaria under the Communists. While not having a sideboard epitomizes poverty for the young Viktor's mother, one look at the plight of Georg who lives on water and butts, is without family or friends, surrounded by predators who want his prized tools and a neighbor who wants to set his dog on him and hasn't crafted a violin in ages crystallizes Viktor's father's argument that poverty is relative.

As the family reaches out to the master to care for him, Georg takes young Viktor under his wings, passing on his love for art, love and faith giving purpose to his life as the end approaches.

If you think the background is too too bleak and depressing, don't let that stop you from picking up the book. I found it very difficult to put the book down, and the music and art which is at the heart of the novel will carry it through for you.