A circular collection of intertwined short stories taking place on a background of moving landscapes, Turbulence by David Szalay is one of the most pleasurable books I´ve read in the last months.
If you are one of those persons, like me, who were blessed with so many travels in their life, you may know already the feeling of being privy of a different human exposure. All those communication with strangers in airplanes or waiting to commute from a place to another! The feeling of feeling at home in the world, although without a real home! Illusion or not, the feeling is real and travel exposes us to a different worldview.
The short stories from Turbulence are using this background for revealing short snaphots of life. The complete strangers we meet during our travels may leave a trace in our lives, may change us, may teach us a lesson. Each chapter has a title of an airport description, following characters from London to Qatar and Budapest. Wide world still small, as we may meet the male character from the first story at the end of the volume.
Besides the philosophical reflection on humanity, the stories seize with a delicate touch very deep human feelings and expressions, such as fear, love, worry. When well written, like in the case of Turbulence, the short stories can be so powerful. I will not trade them to any 500+ novel, to be honest.
This book is a reminder that I need to read even more short stories. They have such an uplifting effect on my life and psyché. Also, I added Szalay on my list of writers whose books and stories I had to add to my list of favorite authors.
Rating: 5 stars
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