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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Mar 2016, 448 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2017, 448 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Kim Kovacs
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Stork Mountain is an enormously charming, slyly brilliant debut novel from an internationally celebrated writer. It is a novel that will undoubtedly find a home in many readers' hearts.
In Stork Mountain, a young Bulgarian immigrant returns to the country of his birth in search of his grandfather, who suddenly and unexpectedly cut all contact with the family three years ago. The trail leads him to a village on the border with Turkey, a stone's throw away from Greece, high up in the Strandja Mountains - a place of pagan mysteries and black storks nesting in giant oaks; a place where every spring, possessed by Christian saints, men and women dance barefoot across live coals in search of rebirth. Here in the mountains, he gets drawn by his grandfather into a maze of half-truths. And here, he falls in love with an unobtainable Muslim girl. Old ghosts come back to life and forgotten conflicts blaze anew until the past surrenders its shameful secrets.
ONE
SOMEONE WAS BEATING THE DOOR of the station and I heard a man cry out, "Let us in, you donkeys. The storm's on my tail and inching closer." But I hadn't slept in thirty hours and maybe I was dreaming of voices. Or maybe I didn't want to get up, snug as I was on the floor in the corner. The handful of peasants around me began to stir, uneasy. The stench of wet wool, of sweat and tobacco, rose like mist from their ancient bodies and the waiting room fogged up. I knew they expected me, the young boy, to wrestle the door open, to let into safety whoever was out there. So I pretended that I was sleeping.
I had arrived on a bus from Sofia early that morning, a four-hour wobble east to the middle of nowhere. "You wait here," the driver had told me, "for the bus to Klisura. It comes around noon. A blue bus. With a big sign.To Klisura. Will you be able to read it?" He'd spoken to me the way people speak to foreigners, drunks, or the dim-witted. I'd smiled and nodded ...
Stork Mountain is one of the more extraordinary novels I've read recently. The plot, setting and characters are all unusual and captivating, and the author's ability to forge these diverse elements into a compelling story is nothing short of stunning. The novel might not work for everyone, as it does require a bit of perseverance to get to the meat of it, but those looking for a departure from the standard fare will likely find this one a winner...continued
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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Kyle Minor, author of Praying Drunk
"I can't speak to Miroslav Penkov's standing among Bulgarian novelists, but now that I've read Stork Mountain, it is easy to say that Penkov is my favorite novelist publishing in America. Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans.
Miroslav Penkov writes with warmth, wit and emotional precision, and Stork Mountain is a gorgeous and big-hearted novel that manages to be both a page-turning adventure story and a nuanced meditation on the meaning of home. This is a fantastic book. Rabih Alameddine, National Book Award Finalist and author of An Unnecessary Woman.
A Bulgarian Don Quixote fighting windmills, his Sancho Panza a lost American grandson, and Dulcinea a Turk overfond of smoking dope. Add a smattering of Christian firewalkers, a touch of Muslim clerics, thousands of hysterical storks who deliver more secrets than babies. What you get is a marvel of a novel. Penkov has written a rollicking, poignant delight. Yiyun Li, author of Kinder Than Solitude and Gold Boy, Emerald Girl.
Stork Mountain is a timely novel when Europe - its entangled past and its uncertain future - occupies the headlines; it is a timeless tale too about the undying and undead, about dreams not paled by reality, and above all, about a young man's search for an answer by searching for the right question. What a tremendous achievement from one of the best young international writers.Nestinarstvo, or ritual fire-dancing, plays an important role throughout Stork Mountain.
The practice, which involves walking barefoot across burning coals, is specific to the Strandja Mountain region in southeast Bulgaria, an area that shares both borders and cultural ties with Greece. Indeed, it's believed that the rite originated with the ancient Thracian peoples of Greece as part of their cult of sun worship. As Christianity spread throughout the area, over the centuries the customs were gradually adapted so that they would fit into the new religious framework.
The dance is said to celebrate St. Constantine (the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who gave Christianity legal standing) and his mother, St. Helene. As patron saints ...
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