Author: Thomas Trofimuk
Pages: 408
Published: 2010 (Originally published 2009)
Challenges: 2012 TBR Reading Challenge
Genre: Literary fiction, Canadian fiction
Edition: Trade paperback
Source: Personal collection
Description: In a Spanish mental institution in 2004, a man who believes he is Christopher Columbus begins to tell his story. Nurse Consuela listens, hoping to discover what tragedy drove this educated, cultured man to retreat from reality. This Columbus is not heroic: he falls in love with every woman he meets, and, on land, he has absolutely no sense of direction. More troublingly, he is convinced a terrible tragedy is coming. Yet with each tale, Consuela draws closer to this lost navigator. (via Goodreads)
Thoughts: For about 3/4 of the book I really enjoyed it, but when I came to the end, I thought it was a bit of a cop-out and ended rather hastily. It was almost as if the author wanted to find an excuse to end the book quickly rather than draw it out a little more. Sure I can understand not wanting to drag out the ending, but I thought that even if there were an extra 50 pages devoted to the ending, I think that the book would have been a little better and possibly a little tighter.
Bottom line: Other than the ending, I quite enjoyed the book and liked how the book evolved over the course of the story. I would recommend it highly to those that enjoy literary fiction or are looking for something different.
Rating: 3.25/5
Pages for 2012: 10848
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