'In the Berlin zoo, beside the pool containing the live walrus, there is an unusual display. In a glass case are all the things found in the stomach of Roland the Walrus, who died on 21 August 1961. Or, to be precise: a pink cigarette lighter, tour ice-lolly sticks (wooden), a metal brooch in the form of a poodle, a beer-bottle opener...
In this wonderfully inventive novel, which explores themes of remembering and forgetting, love and betrayal, exile and loss, Dubravka Ugresic weaves together fragments, stories, essays, and memoirs to capture the shattered world of her characters. As with the contents of the belly of Roland the Walrus, these fictional pieces seem to have been brought together by chance but as the novel progresses connections begin to establish themselves.
A bestseller in Germany, this is a beautifully written novel, reminiscent of the work of Milan Kundera, by an unusual and extremely original writer