I don’t know why but I’ve never really warmed to Czech writers , Kundera, Kafka ok I do like Hrabal but at the moment that’s the only exception. Yes I didn’t like City Sister Silver either.
As I stated before I’m not a fan of stream of conscious writing style and the novel is stuffed with it. Not only that but there are puns , double entendres and neologisms but these are lost in translation, despite the fact that the translator does a good job of explaining certain terms.
In essence City Sister Silver deals with Czech history and especially with Prague’s economic boon in the 90’s. The whole thing is seen through the eyes of Potok, who also joins a gang of thieves so that we see Prague through another worldview. There’s also a love story chucked in with works.
However the amount of slang and loss sentences drove me crazy. I knew what was going on but I felt lost and confused at the same time.
To be honest that’s all I can really say about the book, maybe I’m to rigid but experimental novels do tend to leave me in the cold.
The Bobsphere 