Curtis's Reviews > Attila

Aliocha Coll’s biographer says that Coll would spend an entire day working on just one sentence.

The sentence:
“The spiral ends enter the sinuses of the faces and fill the mouths and throats forcing the cords and slowing the breath: jklartsgowychdeszxichowyjkszaelnñuxchtaedgrszikjae­iychsxkulywugjxechdsxñgdchywetsrzsrlchjñtsrzrsiouwy­chaxtlogkterwselrstxzñyweochdgsniñnnchgklrstgdywux­zdchktywuoieajtsxnlñzxtsraeiarlgñzxotdjchetxslkidchgj­aowdkgyoywyeñrntchglgjrjnsnñxñszsuaoeixtkyljgzñchnel­wxearrrrrrjrsxgkjziychgjkxtsrgyzjlouwieydnrgstzxschsil­nlnyiuwoañjxtxedtdzrztzuwchjlnerdgjgjkjxñxtiwzdyuyw­jynñgaljrrxxzkzygeartlajlllraeilrsgdñchtritldntjysjchsxowd­drtzkngxñsjchchzdsilgwrurwzschjgdxyiekrrorlwdttgakegyk­dyziuilawlgywiswyjxchtwezaakknydlyoddewwottjguiyches­lslllxeaiwyatgxwrzjychlexwsenywgyñgyaygchñedawgwaw­jajwchlaidrtdyjyasyedwdxadwzchydgtkjzxzzchchssswuwn­oogllgszjagh”

This book is what happens when you view Finnegans Wake as the peak of literature. It’s also one of the world’s longest suicide notes, with the author noping out soon after finishing his years long project. Its obscure prose is impossible to understand yet hard to look away from. Worth reading less as entertainment and more a glimpse into the mind of the local raving hobo or streetcorner preacher who refuses to follow societal norms and is unnaturally dedicated to their peculiar life choices.