Summer Reading Project, BookLikes Satellite

Few books begin with a line or paragraph that perfectly captures the essence of the entire story. The Ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel, by Magdalena Zyzak, is one of those few books. It begins with an ethnic joke, featuring a man who embodies the perceived stupidity of the fictitious Eastern European Scalvusian people. Narrated by an unnamed Scalvusian sometime after the war, The Ballad of Barnabas Pierkiel is the story of the people of the village of Odolechka in 1939. The eponymous Barnabas chases a Romani woman he loves while the mayor and police chief overeat; the mayor’s wife tries to improve herself through nutrition, religion, and fascism; a man tries to stir up a proletarian uprising with misremembered Marxist jargon; and an escaped insane man steals everything that isn’t nailed down. Then a German spy parachutes right into the middle of Odolechka...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.