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Bambert doesn't go out and he doesn't try to publish his stories.
He is pretty boring as a main character. His stories are also pretty boring.
The concept of sending the stories out into the world was interesting, but executed in a boring way: all that gets changed is where each story is set, which is just a fill-in-the-blank exercise involving no research or actual characterization of the place.
I liked the shop keeper, Bloom, but he was too nice. He would have given Bambert more genuine help by ...more
He is pretty boring as a main character. His stories are also pretty boring.
The concept of sending the stories out into the world was interesting, but executed in a boring way: all that gets changed is where each story is set, which is just a fill-in-the-blank exercise involving no research or actual characterization of the place.
I liked the shop keeper, Bloom, but he was too nice. He would have given Bambert more genuine help by ...more
small man living alone above a grocery lives through the stories he writes, then sends them off into the world by small hot air balloons with a hope they will be sent back to him, revealing the setting for each story. The last story is blank and he hopes it will come back to him written. A poignant read. Translated from German. The library has both editions- get the one with the Chichester illustrations.
This had an interesting concept-- sending out unfinished stories and getting them back finished-- but it lacked something. It didn't grab me.
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