276 pages
English language
Published Nov. 4, 2017
"When Jakub Procha is sent into space to examine a cosmic dust cloud covering Venus, it may be a solo suicide mission. Dreaming of becoming a national hero and desperate to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he leaves his beloved wife behind and launches into the galaxy. But things aboard spaceship JanHus1 quickly turn weird, and, to make matters worse, he soon learns that his wife has disappeared without a trace back on Earth. As his spaceship hurtles toward an unknown danger and his sanity wavers, Jakub encounters an unlikely fellow passenger -- a giant alien spider. He and his strange arachnid companion form an unlikely bond over late-night refrigerator encounters, where they talk philosophy, love, life, death, and the incomprehensible deliciousness of bacon. But when their mission is thrown into crisis by secret Russian rivals, Jakub is forced to make violent decisions -- recalling the …
"When Jakub Procha is sent into space to examine a cosmic dust cloud covering Venus, it may be a solo suicide mission. Dreaming of becoming a national hero and desperate to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he leaves his beloved wife behind and launches into the galaxy. But things aboard spaceship JanHus1 quickly turn weird, and, to make matters worse, he soon learns that his wife has disappeared without a trace back on Earth. As his spaceship hurtles toward an unknown danger and his sanity wavers, Jakub encounters an unlikely fellow passenger -- a giant alien spider. He and his strange arachnid companion form an unlikely bond over late-night refrigerator encounters, where they talk philosophy, love, life, death, and the incomprehensible deliciousness of bacon. But when their mission is thrown into crisis by secret Russian rivals, Jakub is forced to make violent decisions -- recalling the tortured past and dark political heritage he's buried -- in a desperate quest to return to his Earthly life. Packed with nail-biting thrills, exuberant heart, and surprising and absurd humor in the lineage of Kafka and Vonnegut, Spaceman of Bohemia offers an extraordinary vision of the endless human capacity to persist -- and risk everything -- in the name of love and home"--
What to take seriously? I am always here for spider aliens in space, and for retrospective comparisons of life under communist oppressive distrust and capitalist freewheeling distrust, and maybe for reflections on marital aspirations to common purpose or individual, and a slice of unfamiliar perspective in historical allusion... this was also a mess of a story.
This is a book about life, the universe and everything. And marriage. But it's difficult to take anything in the book seriously, as everything and everyone seems to be a caricature.
I found this book quite refreshing, it was the small things. I love the added flavor of all the brands he mentions, the walks around the city, the true rural country side stories (I know the racket there is every time someone slaughters a pig), the bullshit you had to deal with during socialism and other million small thing that you just don't get in American novels.
The first half of the book was brilliant. Author used the wast distance of space to ask a lot of important questions about ourselves, such as our: humanity, loneliness, madness, what makes a life worth living, social contracts, changing societal norms, freedom, inherited guilt and national identity... Oh and there might or might not be a First contact situation going on.
Unfortunately the second half of the book briefly turns into a sci-fi, spy thriller that just yanked me out of the story …
I found this book quite refreshing, it was the small things. I love the added flavor of all the brands he mentions, the walks around the city, the true rural country side stories (I know the racket there is every time someone slaughters a pig), the bullshit you had to deal with during socialism and other million small thing that you just don't get in American novels.
The first half of the book was brilliant. Author used the wast distance of space to ask a lot of important questions about ourselves, such as our: humanity, loneliness, madness, what makes a life worth living, social contracts, changing societal norms, freedom, inherited guilt and national identity... Oh and there might or might not be a First contact situation going on.
Unfortunately the second half of the book briefly turns into a sci-fi, spy thriller that just yanked me out of the story and it still makes me unsure of my rating for this book (the rating has changed a few times and will change a few times more).
