A review by reggiewoods
Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

K’s collection of stories are mostly concerned with the state of being. He takes bizarre tales; the eponymous dead man’s confession, a pianist whose fingers run away mid concert, or a man hell-bent on biting his own elbow; and uses these anomalies to philosophically ponder what it is to be. While I enjoyed the stories, I often got lost in his mental navigations and felt like I missed out on a lot simply by not being Russian (despite the noble efforts of the translator). I enjoyed his writing enough to read him again in the future, but I would only recommend this collection to those who enjoy pondering the meaning of existence or unexplainable eccentricities. I did like his idea to follow the life of the 30 pieces of silver Judas was paid for his info on Jesus, but feel like K abandoned the project once he realized to give it proper due he would be working on a much larger piece. All in all, comfortably weird.