The Sinistra Zone

By Ádám Bodor

Entering a weird, remote hamlet, Andrei calls himself "a simple wayfarer," but he is in fact highly compromised: he has no identity papers. Taken under the wing of the military zone's commander, Andrei is first assigned to guard the blueberries that supply a nearby bear reserve. He is surrounded by human wrecks, supernatural umbrellas, birds carrying plagues, albino twins. The bears -- and an affair with a married woman -- occupy Andrei until his protector is replaced by a new female commander, "a slender creature, quiet, diaphanous, like a dragonfly," and yet an iron-fisted harridan. As things grow ever more alarming, Andrei becomes a "corpse watchman," standing guard over the dead to check for any signs of life, and then ...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081121978X
• ISBN13: 9780811219785
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.0"