Time Shelter

Bookclub [UoG] read: 3.5* rounded up to 4.

There were times I enjoyed this and times I nearly put it down for good. Perhaps I don't know enough about Bulgaria, maybe I'm not smart enough.

The concept, as it began, with the Time Shelters as a support for those living with dementia, was inspired and beautiful. I've since learned that versions of these exist around the world, which gives me a bit more faith in humanity.

When the world began to split apart (no spoilers here) my interest waned. I struggled through the last third having enjoyed the beginnings. This put a damper on my overall feeling about the book.

Whether it was a book about the future or the past, it was ultimately a book of stories. A book which worships words and other books. While the concepts were sometimes a struggle, the ease of reading - some chapters were two to a page - made this very hard to put down.

Time Shelter, the International Booker winner of 2023 and a Bulgarian novel written by Georgi Gospodinov, deals with the human psychology that craves the certainty of the past and aspires to break the uni-directional behaviour of time. The future is inevitable, ambiguous, and uncertain, and our march towards it is frightening. But the past is familiar and comforting, and our nostalgia associated with the past invites us towards it. Time Shelter explores this craving for the past and the unescapable consequences when we try to modify the present in an attempt to return to the past.