Checkpoint
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- 13,99 €
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- 13,99 €
Publisher Description
From the award-winning Serbian author David Albahari comes a devastating and Kafkaesque war fable about an army unit sent to guard a military checkpoint with no idea where they are or who the enemy might be.
Atop a hill, deep in the forest, an army unit is dropped off to guard a checkpoint. The commander doesn’t know where they are, what border they’re protecting, or why. Their map is useless. The radio crackles with a language no one can recognize. A soldier is found dead in a latrine and the unit vows vengeance—but the killer, like the enemy, is unknown. Amid orgies and massacres, the commander struggles to maintain order and keep his soldiers alive, but he can’t be sure whether they’re fighting a war or caught in some bizarre military experiment.
Equal parts Waiting for Godot and Catch-22, David Albahari’s Checkpoint is a haunting and hysterical confrontation with the absurdity of war.
"A satirical take on war in the vein of Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five, Serbian author David Albahari’s Checkpointis shocking and comic in equal turns, skillfully pulled together by the force of Albahari’s wit.... Visceral, wild, and often hilarious, Checkpoint is a dark delight."
—Ho Lin, Foreword Reviews, Starred Review
“Checkpoint is a tornado of a book.”
—Jon Sobel, Blogcritics
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Late in the night, a small company of soldiers is dropped off without communications at an isolated checkpoint deep in the forest. Their objective is unclear, as is their enemy. So begins Albahari's surreal novel, a dark and comically absurd take on modern conflict. The largely nameless cast of soldiers swirls around two key figures: the commander, a high-minded, pensive, and ultimately ineffectual man, and his most-trusted soldier, Mladen, who quickly adapts to the chaos of their unknown frontier. Soon, soldiers are found dead, dispatched in mysterious, gruesome ways, with all clues leading back to the impenetrable wood. As their situation grows dire, the checkpoint is called into action by the appearance of a group of refugees who speak an unrecognizable language. As losses and confusion mount, one thing becomes clear: they must escape the checkpoint or die. Albahari (Every Night in Another Town) unfolds events like a fever dream, seamlessly weaving brutality and comedy. His vision of war is a grim fairy tale without a moral lesson, and a warning for an age of reconstituted borders.
