The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 19 February 1998
by Nina FitzPatrick
Irish author (?) FitzPatrick has a style in this book that seemed to be a cross between Richard Brautigan and Milan Kundera. This is the story of Faustyna, whose quiet virtuous life is launched into chaos and adventure by the appearance of a bizarre cloud over her home city of Krakow, Poland. The cloud presages a decade and a half of political and personal adventure, which is funny and tragic. It is a light and airy read, but that lulls the reader into a false sense of security that is jarred by the political upheavals in that period of Poland's history. Many biting asides are also directed at Ireland, perhaps due to a controversy over FitzPatrick's identity that resulted in an award for her previous book being rescinded. Na zdrowie.