Posted: (AEST).
November 2025 Bookbug
The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai
For a good chunk of the book I was worried I was reading the wrong story, because it sounded nothing like the description. I couldn’t relate at all to the main character, written as a two-dimensional upperclass damsel in breast-stress, not enjoying a train ride, and very judgemental of “peasantry”.
I was relieved when the train scenario had ended and I thought the circus elements finally started creeping in. Alas, it was more judgemental dialogue, bizarrely shallow characters, and lavish descriptions of household objects.
I don’t think I’ve found a book this boring since Insomnia by Stephen King, which admittedly was very unrelatable to me as a teenager when I read it especially. I wonder if I’d prefer it to this now.
I think the real melancholy and resistance in this book is the feeling while trying to read it. I feel melancholy that each sentence feels like it is leading nowhere, and I am resistant to admitting this to myself.
I really wanted to like this book because it’s been my first time participating in a book club for many years, and my first time reading anything fiction in at least a year or two.
Maybe my attention span is to blame, because full disclosure I do have ADHD, and this book feels like the antithesis of that.
I hope that much of this is an error in translation and that this book reads better in Hungarian.
I read this book as part of Bookbug, as it is their November 2025 book! I borrowed it through my local library, and read it as an ebook.
One star for the book, five stars for this book club.