Nominated for several awards, Krakow Melt is a book that readers will either love or hate for a variety of reasons: pyromania; homophobia; art; Pope John Paul II hovering near death; brief chapters with headings that are not always descriptive or representative of the content within; writing that is provocative, expressive, and at times insulting.
Set in Krakow (Poland) in 2005, the main characters grapple with homosexuality and fitting in, just as Poland is struggling to fit into the European Union. Radek, a bisexual artist and pyromaniac, meets Dorota, a literature student and, herself, a budding pyromaniac. Together they find love and a sense of belonging, while fighting religion, government, and the LGBT community to which they do not feel a sense of belonging – all while dealing with rage and sexual curiosity and exploration.
Krakow Melt’s language will draw pictures in readers’ minds, both vivid and beautiful, yet also painful and hurtful. This book does not offer easy reading, but it is a work that will meet the high literary mind’s standards.
Reviewed by, [s.n.]
