Το κουτί
Henrik Fexeus, 2017
★ 3.94 from 20.8k ratings on Goodreads
A magician's stage trick hides a real disappearance; a vanished mother, a locked box, and a mind that counts to keep from breaking. The prose moves calmly and lyrically, with a mentalist's curiosity and a quiet thread of unease beneath the wonder.
Feels like curiosity, serenity and wonder. About nature, adventure and power.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy a magic-and-mentalist angle and a central pair whose company carries you through. Still, many readers find it very long and slow, with filler and a mystery that some guess early.
Why read it
Read it for the mentalist trick at its centre and the tense closing stretch, if you can settle into its unhurried length.
A page from the book
The moment she realises the coffee was not just coffee.
Το φως εισχωρεί μέσα από μικρές στενές οπές και σχηματίζει ορθογώνια στα γυμνά της χέρια και πόδια. Στα γυμνά της… Μα πού είναι τα ρούχα της; Δεν λείπει μόνο το μπουφάν της, αλλά και η μπλούζα. Και το τζιν. Κάποιος την έγδυσε. Φοράει μόνο το εσώρουχο και το φανελάκι της. Όχι, δεν είναι αλήθεια. Γλείφει πάλι τα χείλη της. Η χημική γεύση δεν έχει φύγει ακόμη. Κάτι είχε ο καφές. Κάποιος έριξε κάτι στον καφέ της χωρίς εκείνη να το καταλάβει. Ήταν πολύ αγχωμένη, δεν είδε τίποτα. Και τον ήπιε όλο. Νιώθει το δέρμα της να μουδιάζει, η αδρεναλίνη ξεχύνεται στο σώμα της. Πρέπει να βγει έξω. Ουρλιάζει και πιέζει τα τοιχώματα όσο πιο δυνατά μπορεί. What readers say
Readers often find the central pair and the magic/mentalist angle engaging, and some are gripped by the tense ending. Many others are frustrated by the extreme length, slow pacing, filler, and predictable mystery.
Henrik Fexeus.Henrik Fexeus is a Swedish mentalist and lecturer on nonverbal communication; he writes crime fiction with Camilla Läckberg under the pen name Camilla Läckberg & Henrik Fexeus.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Το κουτί for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy a magic-and-mentalist angle and a central pair whose company carries you through. Still, many readers find it very long and slow, with filler and a mystery that some guess early.
- What is Το κουτί like?
- The prose moves calmly and lyrically, with a mentalist's curiosity and a quiet thread of unease beneath the wonder. Feels like curiosity, serenity and wonder. About nature, adventure and power.
- What should I read after Το κουτί?
- If you liked Το κουτί, try The Lost World (Michael Crichton), Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά (Nikos Kazantzakis) and Kusamakura (Natsume Sōseki).
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The case for trusting the salt on your skin.
“A hundred years from now, people will look back on us and laugh. They’ll say, ‘You know what people used to believe? They believed in photons and electrons. Can you imagine anything so silly?’ They’ll have a good laugh, because by then there will be newer and better fantasies. And meanwhile, you feel the way the boat moves? That’s the sea. That’s real. You smell the salt in the air? You feel the sunlight on your skin? That’s all real. You see all of us together? That’s real. Life is wonderful. It’s a gift to be alive, to see the sun and breathe the air. And there isn’t really anything else.”
The Lost World · Michael Crichton
Two ways to live with death, argued over a newly planted almond tree.
Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!’ I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?’ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.’ I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.’ Which of us was right, boss?
Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά · Nikos Kazantzakis
The books on your shelf are proof that something survives.
I couldn’t explain it, not even to myself, but books gave me an unflinching sense of stability and groundedness. That because words survived, somehow I would too.
The Lost Bookshop · Evie Woods
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