Solo
by Rana Dasgupta
2011, 339 pages
Fiction
If you are a fan of stories that take place in countries and in times with which you are unfamiliar, Solo by Rana Dasgupta will be appealing. The novel's protagonist, Ulrich, tells the story of his life growing up in the Bulgarian empire in the early 20th century.
He studied briefly in Berlin before World War II and returned to care for his parents, who struggled to survive harsh conditions in his home country while ruled by fascists, and then communists.
Ulrich recalls his life from the vantage point of his 100 years, blind and alone, getting minimal care from kind neighbors who also struggle in their new democratic society. At his advanced age, he indulges in daydreams he has nurtured his whole life, a life full of tragedy and irony. These daydreams make up the second half of the novel, in which he is able to achieve a sense of peace and fulfillment though in his own life dreams were never fulfilled.
Ulrich's real life takes the reader through what it may have been like living in Bulgaria during so many decades of strife. His daydreams involve gangsters who became successful in the turmoil of an emerging capitalist society.
These daydreams move to contemporary United States, where he imagines his long-lost son and a chance to meet him. The characters of his daydreams are all displaced natives of former Soviet republics and all of their experiences are colored by that unique point of view.
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