Extraordinary Renditions Book

Flowing and surprisingly bold/powerful trio of interlinked novellas set in Budapest. Not at all a novelistic travelogue. Author does a remarkable job transposing his ex-pat perceptions into the lives of characters unlike each other or the author, each brought to life thanks to forward-flowing stories. Was a little worried at first thanks to the epigram and the first novella's focus that this might be a bit too "literary" for me, but the perception and the pace that animate these characters engaged me and pushed those worries aside. In the middle, there's the audacious execution of a deepish POV story about a black solider from West Philly involved in some corrupt rascist military gun-dealin' crap, and this comes between the initial staid, vaguely Sebaldian novella about a Hungarian composer/Holocaust survivor and the third novella focused on a young white chubby American violinist from Boston who ecstatically loses her shit mid-opera in a moving, transporting display of artistic and personal independence that parallels similar yet totally different rebellions in the other parts. Deserves a much wider audience and way more ratings on here, but sadly one of the least generous, idiotically dismissive reviews ever to appear in NYT Book Review print stunted its growth upon publication a few years ago. (I include the link to the review because "low expectations totally exceeded" is always an enjoyable experience compared to "high expectations totally dashed.") Over time, I'm confident that good readers will read this book and right this wrong. The writer lives in Manayunk, which many claim is part of Philadelphia, and I know him, but I hereby swear my praise may be trusted. Surprisingly excellent stuff once again from Coffeehouse (see Leaving the Atocha Station).