Alright, nothing too exciting. The format and way of telling the story and the style of characters really reminded me of the fables the main character writes. It's also not too sad, which is good cause the subject could easily turn out that way. I dunno, not much to say about it. Good enough but nothing special, just nice and didn't leave me with any lingering thoughts.

Quick plot summary so I can remember what happens if I come back to it in the future, don't click unless you want it all spoiled! Guy who wrote a book 40 years ago and still harbours dreams of being a proper literary star lives with his ill brother who he looks after reads to while working for a businessman and writing fables about sparrows. A cruel friend tricks him into thinking a publisher has signed a contract to publish his old book for a lot of money. This changes how man feels, he acts as more of an arsehole to his brother because he's worried, it preoccupies his mind. Eventually he works out he's been had, feels like an idiot, punches cruel friend a bit. All ends happily because through weirdness with exchange rate and cheques he actually made money out of the fake cheque cruel friend made out to him under false name. Roll credits ( )

This short book, translated from the italian original Una burla riuscita, tells the story of a mediocre man, with no literary or business (or, it seems, any other) skills, who believes to me a writer of merit, and cherishes the dream of public recognition based on a novel he wrote forty years earlier and has remained completely ignored by everyone. The pratical joke of an acquaintance who convinces him that the representative of an important viennese publisher is in town to meet him and negotiate the contract for the reedition of his book, generates a flussy of activity in an otherwise monotonous and balanced (although rather gray) life which ends in the return to that sadder state of affairs, only that much bitter, after the hoax has been disclosed. An interesting, almost cruel, story about self-delusion and the human need for some kind of immortality and recognition. ( )

Mario heeft in zijn jonge jaren een roman geschreven en die uitgegeven op eigen kosten. Hij wacht al jaren op het moment dat het een succes wordt. Een kennis haalt dan de grap met hem uit dat hij een collega laat optreden als een vertegenwoordiger van een Duitse uitgever, die de roman zal gaan vertalen. Omdat Mario pas ruchtbaarheid aan zijn succes wil geven als het boek echt vertaald is, is de grap niet echt een succes. Alleen omdat in afwachting van het contract een paar gunstige valuta-transacties worden gedaan, is het achteraf toch nog een succes voor Mario.