The Tenor Saxophonist's Story

by Josef Škvorecký

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 088001461X
• ISBN13: 9780880014618
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 163 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Tenor Saxophonist's review of a Tenor Saxophonist's Story

Skvorecky is a master of understatement, speaking volumes in this thin book of ten glimpses into the lives of artists, socielites and politicos living under a totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia.

I'd give this tenor a tenner!

As is so often the case with these reader reviews, upon perusing them I can't help but wonder if we were even reading the same book. In this slim but far-reaching volume, Skvorecky carries through his lifelong themes of freedom vs. conscription, will vs. compulsion, and the idea of humanity vs. the humans involved. The stories are short and almost deceptively witty -- because there is a depth of heartbreak beneath. If you favor writers like Klima, Hrabal, and Kundera (although Skvorecky thankfully lacks the latter's pomposity) you'll find "The Tenor Saxophonist's Story" well worth reading.