An American has recently moved to a city in Central Europe. It's a cold day sometime before Christmas and he meets up with a woman he's recently met to look for an apartment to rent. As they travel around the city, meeting up with her friends, looking at this place he's decided to call home and looking for the apartment, the man thinks back over his life, especially his time in Iraq. There are also memories that lead to digressions about music and art. Not much happens, and while it's not an ordinary day, it's not a remarkable one.

And yet, I was entirely pulled into this exercise in minimalism. This is written in a way that places the reader entirely within the setting of the novel, feeling the cold from the snow seep through your shoes, smelling the sausages for sale at the Christmas market, seeing the daylight fade in the afternoon. Greg Baxter knows how to evoke a setting. He also knows how to build a character, letting the details arise organically as the novel progresses. This short novel is a masterclass in character-development and in creating a setting, even if neither the protagonist nor the city are ever named. ( )

We are not given the name of the European city the narrator of The Apartment has moved to but it feels like Prague in many ways.
The novel is spread over one day but flits around other times in the near past and further when he was in the military and a security worker in the Middle East. It is cold and winter and we read how he had to buy warmer shoes and on this day he buys a warm coat.
He meets his friend Saskia and she is helping him to find an apartment to live in. He appears to be trying to find a new life, isn't keen to develop new friendships but, despite this, enjoys Saskia's company. The topics in the book stretch wide and varied, art and architecture are discussed and music and even billiards. Tales from his time as a young adult appear too, including about his friend who died and death is certainly prevalent in the novel, including opposite the apartment where there is a cemetery. The novel has an intimate feel and is written with a gentle pace that never stops, there are no chapters and few paragraphs, it is a stream of words from the narrators head. Although his thoughts talk of loss there is a sense of hope for something new and loving underneath. An excellent read. ( )

A short story, but in no way is it light or an easy read. I don't mean that as an insult, often shorter stories tend to be books you read on a lazy afternoon.

The book is all one long chapter. It's an unusual format, but I feel like the format works well with the storyline. It's all one big, long day. It's mostly thoughts, some memories, some conversation, but it all takes place in one day.
Not much happens in this day, a man looks for an apartment with the help of a new acquaintance/friend.

He has spent years trying to isolate himself in the world. He doesn't like himself much, he doesn't like the world much and he doesn't form attachments with other people easily. He pretty much fights attachments to people.

But here he is, on a fairly insignificant day, doing something pretty usual (apartment hunting) and for him this day stands out in a way because of his new acquaintance and the possibility that he's going to be putting down roots in this new city.

I'm not sure what to say beyond that. I didn't love it, I didn't dislike it. I felt like there was going to be a big obvious lesson at the end, but there wasn't. It's just about a man trying to isolate himself from everyone and everything and where he's at at this particular day in his life. ( )

This came to me via the wrapped Bookcrossing Christmas mystery book. I unwrapped it and ended up reading it all in one afternoon but I can't say if that is because it was very compelling or readable or merely because I wanted an afternoon of reading. It's a strange one, starts out reminding me of novels like The Mezzanine or Wide Sargasso Sea but took more than a few weird turns along the way. I finally began to wonder if the unnamed narrator has PTSD but finally deiceded I had no idea what to make of it. Interesting but I think my next read will have a plot.

This short novel is literally a day in the life of a 40ish ex-Naval officer who is searching for some measure of anonymity in a new city. On this day, a young woman he's befriended helps him find an apartment. As the day progresses, we learn a bit about the man's past and are able to draw conclusions about why he feels a need to shed that past and start over. But we don't know for sure. This is a story about connections, and about how much we really know people. Very subtle, surprisingly satisfying. ( )