Well! That was a wild ride. This book is not for those of you who hate non-linear, rambling, chaotic, surreal, fragmentary, stream-of-consciousness type of fiction. The "plot" is pretty insignificant and, by design, nonsensical. It's unsettling and satisfying at the same time. There was a moment in the middle when I thought it really had lost me, but after that ending (incredible!), thinking back, it makes a bit more sense ... sort of! But that's the point, I think.

Time Shelter is all about the human tendency to find comfort in the past. When the present is too incoherent, ominous, foreboding, the past is where  people find their shelter: 

The past and nostalgia may be comforting and helpful to individuals, but what happens when a whole society is imprisoned by the allure of the past, glorifying narratives that may or may not be "true"? 

The book is at its most disorientating when it zooms out, to society as a whole (well, European society). I think this was the part of the book that lost me. Apologies if this next paragraph ends up not making much sense. I'm trying to write without spoilers and it was already hard to follow in the book.

I understand that this part of the book was a critique on the European right-wing nationalism of today, and the tendency to use glorification of certain moments of the past, as a political tool in the present. But the way Gospodinov tried represent this tendency was truly outlandish, and I struggled to wrap my head round it. I can see how there are individuals or groups in society that latch onto certain points in the past (particularly, points in the 20th century) as quote-unquote "better" than today, but is that true for the majority of citizens? Especially those the most marginalised. I think "nostalgia", on this societal scale anyway, is actually quite unfamiliar to the marginalised. The 20th century was horrendous for the vast majority of them at various different points (maybe every point?), so wanting to do something quite like this, even just as a theoretical exercise, seems baffling to me.

Furthermore, there were definitely some historical and political references that went over my head, as well as numerous references to other literature. I can see a re-read of this in the future being useful, now I know the overriding theme of the book.

Personally, I think the book was most successful when it focused on individual stories. Either that of the narrator, or other unnamed characters he may or may not have met. I read, re-read, and wrote down so many wonderful passages from these parts of the book. A lot of difficult themes are covered; aging, illness, and death. This passage, on grief, as an example, felt very real to me:

I also love reading meta books on writing itself, so this book definitely scratched that itch for me.

All in all, an overwhelming read with a lot to process, and I can see my rating changing as I mull over the numerous ideas it presented. Very much recommended though, as I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it before.

I would’ve loved to have rated it higher but I just can’t. The parts that I loved, I loved enough to give it a five star but the parts I didn’t like, I disliked enough to have nearly stopped reading. The parts I didn’t like became chores to read and it was just unpleasant. 

I loved the beginning, enjoyed the idea of the towns a lot and meeting the patients that lived in the clinics was sweet. However, I didn’t enjoy when it randomly went off the rails and suddenly there were 5000 referendums, so much historical talk & information about wars and leaders and political parties. 

It did seem quite philosophical, which honestly I feel like my mind can’t quite grasp or maybe just doesn’t like to, but I enjoyed it all the same even if I didn’t understand some of the ramblings. 

Loved the diary format, made for an interesting read and was refreshing from the usual following the main character around everywhere, all the time.

Some places it’s a little boring and others it’s really interesting! Gave us a 3 because the really interesting parts made for some great reading. 

Also the translation of this book was pretty good in my opinion, usually I find translated books lose a lot of depth but this still felt very deep to me!