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Too Loud a Solitude Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Too Loud a Solitude


Hanta has spent 35 years compacting paper in order to save rare books from destruction. In communist Czechoslovakia books are banned. Whilst being a beer soak he also drank the words of the great writers and philosophers ,‘sipping them like a liqueur until the thought dissolves in him like alcohol, infusing brain and heart.' He has saved over 3 tons of books some of which he sells to a professor and some that he gives away to a friend. The rest are stored precariously above his bed at home. We hear about the mice that infest the cellar where he works and sometimes get crushed in the crusher and at other times are carried unwittingly in his pockets or trouser turn-ups to the inn where he gets his beer.
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We hear how his boss harangues him and calls him a Nitwit. Sadly his boss sacks him from the job he loves and replaces him with two efficients, members of the Brigade of Socialist Labour, who work at the giant new compacting plant. Distraught Hanta gets drunk and then finds himself back at the cellar where he decides to follow Seneca and Socrates and take his own life by crawling sublimely into the jaws of the crusher with his favourite quotation in his hand.
The review of this Book prepared by John Marcel



Chapter Analysis of Too Loud a Solitude

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Plot & Themes

Tone of book?    -   thoughtful Time/era of story    -   1960's-1970's Political/social activism    -   Yes Plotlet:    -   fighting for free speech/press Life of a profession:    -   blue collar worker Internal struggle/realization?    -   Yes Struggle over    -   nature of existence (heavy philosophy) Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Job/Profession/Status story    -   Yes Drinking/Drugs problems?    -   alcohol

Main Character

Gender    -   Male Profession/status:    -   scholar Age:    -   60's-90's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   Eastern European

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   3 () Europe    -   Yes European country:    -   Eastern Europe City?    -   Yes City:    -   dirty, grimy (like New York)

Writing Style

Sex in book?    -   Yes What kind of sex:    -   vague references only Amount of dialog    -   significantly more descript than dialog

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Bohumil Hrabal Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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