One Note Symphonies

One Note Symphonies, Sean Brijbasi, Writer's Club Press (iuniverse.com), 2001

This sort-of novel consists of a series of staccato-like bits of story that change location and tense totally without warning. These aren't very short stories, or even vignettes; it's more a case of a paragraph here, and a couple of paragraphs there.

In one part of the book, Martin, the main character, is asked to paint a portrait of a young woman at a moment when she is laughing. Unfortunately, Martin is of the opinion that the woman is rather ugly when her mouth is open like that. In Helsinki, a married man named Bernhard, entranced by the quivering nostrils of a woman named Marikka, takes her out to dinner, then they have sex. Napoleon Bonaparte thinks that he is a bicycle. Along the way, the reader will also meet a blue balloon, a red crayon, a talking monkey and a cocktail waitress named Darkbloom. There is also quite a lot of eroticism, both real and imagined, in this book, mostly invloving Martin.

This book doesn't follow the usual literature rules about plot and storyline. It is also an acquired taste sort of book. The reader will either really like, or really hate, the constant change of tense and location and narration. I really liked it, and, for those looking for something different, think this is well worth reading.