Crumbs

Crumbs is a display of poetic writing but for me, unfortunately, it came at the expense of the story. Set in a communist factory town in the former Yugoslavia, Egon makes ends meet by occasionally writing trashy romance novels under a pen name. He has a varied group of friends and acquaintances, each one obsessed with a farfetched ambition, whom he uses to get treated to beers at bars, or in schemes to acquire his trademark scent of Cartier aftershave.

While the narrative was well set in the time period and the writing matched the setting, the novel didn’t feel like a linear story, and the characters didn’t seem to exhibit any kind of growth or change. The moments of the novel in which Egon vehemently worked to try and acquire his expensive aftershave were entertaining, and I wish it had been a more focal point to the story like I expected. Crumbs took me some time to get through because I didn’t feel as engaged as I thought I would be, however, it is probably worth the read for fans of stories with a focus on language and distinct style.