A beach read, but the beach was the beautiful city of Paris. We took a short break to take in some art galleries and for me to buy a new saxophone and we also met up with FlorenceArt. I suppose that Waiting for Columbus would be considered as a Romance with a flavour of the 15th century, there is also a mystery element and the rather tired trope of unravelling the story of a person who is institutionalised in a mental hospital, believing himself to be a famous historical figure; in this case it is Christopher Columbus.

The story mixes elements of the 21st century with a telling of the story of Christopher Columbus, through broken fragments from the memories of the mental patient. It is romanticised, because the mental institution is described in the same dreamy prose as the rest of the novel and of course the beautiful unmarried nurse Consuela is earmarked for a romance with her patient. The mystery element will pull many readers on through the book and this reader was not disappointed with the quality of the writing. The soft, sensual language can make this story seem more like a fairy tale than a modern day romance, but there are one or two sex scenes that introduce elements of reality. The characters are well developed and the dialogue works well enough. This is a love story, teetering on the edge of tragedy and kept me entertained during those inevitable downtimes when travelling. 3.5 stars. ( )

This book let me down. The only saving grace was that the writing was beautiful. Unfortunately that's not always enough to save a book. The idea was certainly interesting, but to me the execution failed. It also dragged. I wanted to reach inside the book and shake the narrator telling them to "get on with it already". I'd call this a pretty sub-par experience. ( )

This book is partly a mystery -- who is this man who believes he is Christopher Columbus, and why are the police looking for him? It is also an exploration of how we deal with trauma.

The setting is an institution for the insane, where a strange man tells stories about his life as Christopher Columbus to his nurse. She and his doctors wonder if they will ever unlock the secret that keeps their patient locked in the 15th century. Columbus's stories are confusing...often set in a 15th century complete with telephones and television. The reader, like the other characters, is left wondering what grain of truth there is in the stories. The author brings it all together well. A great read. ( )

It has been often said that there is a fine line between genius and madness. But there is a thin line of text between our reality of today and history. That is the main theme that Thomas Trofimuk explores in his brilliant book Waiting for Columbus.

Page 14-15
Up until a few weeks ago, Consuela did not go into his room unless she was with an orderly. Those first few days, when he was restrained, she was fine being alone in the room. But after the restraints came off, he was unpredictably violent, as well as incoherent, with occasional bouts of lucidity and a lot of gibberish. Even not he still strikes out with a righteous violence, and his resolve to escape is emphatic. Columbus wants to go to sea. This is clear from his babble. Apparently something horrible will happen out there. Something only he can stop. There are days when Consuela wonders if she should just tell him how the real Christopher Columbus has already been to the New World and returned. but she thinks that telling this story would be mean. This man does no harm by believing himself to be Christopher Columbus.

This is the second of Trofimuk's books that I have discovered recently and it is brilliant. Usually when plot is muddled with too many voices, a book can be hard to follow but in Trofimuk's case, the mixing of voices works to build confusion adds to the narrative.

Link to my complete review ( )

This is something I wrote for the blog, Books on the Nightstand:

http://booksonthenightstand.com/2009/10/story-too-good-to-stay-buried.html ( )