Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age (New York Review Books Classics)

"A whirlwind novel told entirely in one sentence(!), Hrabal writes with a tremendous urgency as his elderly narrator spills intimately rambling details of his lascivious and politically tumultuous life like the story will die with him if he doesn't get it out fast enough; there's absurdity and crassness aplenty, but also a profound sense of loss and depression hounding everyone the narrator talks about (and perhaps even himself), like he's the only one still left, reflecting on everyone who's vanished; but don't overthink things—just get swept up in the flow and the outlandish stories and the crushing finality and mortality of everything the narrator describes, let the language take hold of you and get taken in like he's telling this prolonged narrative to you, maybe he is, maybe he is (oh, and be sure to read the excellent preface by Adam Thirlwell to properly contextualize Hrabal's multilayered work)."

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