Europe has taken me by surprise during my reading the world challenge. I never thought Europe would be the most problematic continent to find books. It is however true. The micro countries have been quite the challenge. I was however lucky to find Happy Weekend by Immanuel Mifsud, so at least I have Malta covered.
The book is a collection of several shorts stories already published in the author’s other books, but now made into a collection and for the first time translated into the English. Four translators have been involved in the collection, and this might explain the unevenness of the stories. At least I like to think that the author’s work is good, but sometimes the translation misses the fine details. The collection would also have needed a bit more editing and proofreading.
The stories evolve around strong character building. The stories are about regular people and their lives. Nothing less, nothing more. The characters are flawed, hurt, men, women, divorced, students, the list goes on… The regular crowd you find in every country, in every town.
“With the fresh taste of pizza and beer they drive back. Through the window she watches the couples strolling hand in hand, talking, meeting others, looking at the sea, glad to see eachother (sic), just happy.” Normal day-to-day activities, beautiful prose, and lack of proof reading I referred to earlier.
Not the most inspired work I read during my journey around the world, but not the worst one either. I was simply happy to find something to read from Malta. That that alone satisfied me. The stories were not bad, but definitely not memorable either. I am not the biggest fan of short stories, so in the end I might not be the best person to rate this book.
Book by Book, Country by Country 