Mysteries

“Everything is a sham. One kind of sham is just as good as the other.”

I think this is the funniest book I've ever read. I'd compare reading this book to listening to your deranged drunk uncle's ramblings. In a way, it's also a literary shitpost, with long tirades and passages that lead to absolutely nothing, and it's hilarious. Like your deranged drunk uncle, it's mental and hilarious, but also sad and poignant. The dialogue and language also remind me of listening to old-timers and older coworkers stories back in my hometown, which makes it very life-like to me.

Nagel must also be one of the most intriguing characters out there. The man is a walking contradiction, much like the book itself. Sometimes he seems like a crazy charlatan, while at others he seems like the only sane person in the world. Everyone in town, except for Nagel's counterpart Minutten, is entrenched in everyday-life, within the walls of material existence. They all care earnestly about politics, business, science, and literature et cetera, while Nagel, though quite knowledgeable and intelligent, stands fervently in opposition to it all. One might say he does this just to get a rise out of people and for laughs, but lines such as “I am sure I am right, but it's so painful and sad that everyone else doesn't think as I do.” hints at a deeper existential pain. In many ways, he lives an impossible existence. He lives in a world where mysteries, such as himself, are just amusements that no one takes seriously and which must always be unveiled and killed off.

There's a lot more to discuss and talk about with this dense self-contradictory book, but for now I will just say that I love it for its serious unseriousness.