- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (May 26 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375700951
- ISBN-13: 978-0375700958
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,234,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Albanian novelist Kadare (The Concert), living in political exile in France since 1991, spins cogent tales about the temptations and evils of totalitarian bureaucracy. His latest carries a universal message. Set in ancient Egypt-where Pharaoh Cheops oversees the construction of his tomb, the highest, most majestic pyramid ever, to be built by tens of thousands of his brainwashed subjects-the novel's hypnotically Kafkaesque narrative exposes the alienating, destructive effects of investing unquestioned power in a ruler, a state or a religion. The massive pyramid devours Egypt's resources and energies. Thousands die as it rises ever higher, and Cheops, depicted as a power-mad lunatic who craves adulation, periodically unleashes waves of arrests and torture of those falsely accused of sabotaging the project. Analogies to Stalin's paranoia, bloody purges and other terrors spring to mind, but the story takes on a broader meaning, demonstrating how a state or a ruling elite can mold public opinion so that its citizens willingly act against their own best interests. As the narrative closes, it leaps ahead centuries to display Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) erecting in central Asia a pyramid made of 70,000 skulls. Through this closing image, and the horrors that precede it, Kadare again proves himself a master of the political parable.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh Cheops declares that he does not want a pyramid built to house him after death, but when the terrified priests argue that building the pyramids is an important task that has always kept the populace occupied and hence compliant, he relents. Soon the construction of the grandest pyramid of them all obssesses the people, who are at first elated but soon crushed by the reign of terror that results, as suspected saboteurs are tortured and men die daily while putting in place the huge stones. In a refreshingly clear, bold style, Kadare (The Concert, LJ 10/1/94) ably depicts the misuse of power and the hollow results for all involved. An effective political fable from one of Albania's few novelists, now living in France; for most collections.?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Innovative book, but hard to connect with,
By
This review is from: The Pyramid (Paperback)
I suppose that I'm a little less sophisticated that the previous reviewers, but I had a hard time connecting to this book. By framing the pyramid as the central figure in this novel, Kadare creates an innovative and thought provoking tale. Unfortunately, because of his focus on the pyramid as a main character, I had difficulty connecting emotionally with this piece. My favourite books are ones that draw me in to feel deeply for the main characters (like Rohinton Mistry can do so effectively.) This novel just didn't engage me that much. Very interesting style, but didn't quite do it for me.
5.0 out of 5 stars
MOST IMPORTANT BOOK,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Pyramid (Hardcover)
Invading Irak -- Going to Mars -- Building a new fighter plane -- Spending on the StarWar anti-missile shield -- Having everybody in the country get his or her own collection of DVD everybody else has -- All modern-type pyramids aimed at wasting your money, that is your time, your efforts -- so that nothing else changes ever. How does it work? READ THE PYRAMID.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The pyramid as a character,
This review is from: The Pyramid (Hardcover)
The passages which evoke the actual building of Cheops' pyramid are extraordinarily powerful and impossible to forget; still, it is less the 'physical pyramid' than all it represents that Kadare seeks to illustrate - the shape it takes in the minds of many men, from the builders to the pharaoh, from the pillagers to the dignitaries. Among the pyramid's various symbolic connotations, he is especially fascinated by the power linked to it, by the hubristic ambition emanating from each of its individual pieces as well as from its finished form. Despite his deeply non-obscurantist approach, Kadare does not desacralize the pyramid: its religious/esoteric dimension is included in, rather than evacuated from, its overall significations. As the title indicates, the pyramid is indeed the book's central character - all the humans are affected by its mysterious, ineffable and frightening presence. So is the reader of this book...
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