The famous opening line of Anna Karenina perfectly suits Łoziński’s second novel. The Book is an extraordinary multi­ ­generational saga, partly based on the author’s own family, in which the complex fates of the protagonists are set against the stormy history of twentieth-century Poland. From the war to the present day, one generation after another grapples with everyday life, but also with harsh and haunting isolation. Yet the paradox of family ties is that they conquer all – sometimes providing the support one needs in life, at other times a source of suffering and frustration. Łoziński tells of his protagonists with sensitivity and understanding, his memory anchored in a series of objects – a coffee maker, pipes, a ring, and a pair of glasses. The tale is difficult and painful, yet very necessary, as it liberates and brings a sense of renewal.

“This book is not a literal history of my family. But that is its inspiration. I think that everyone enters the world carrying the baggage of their parents’ and grandparents’ experience. And their own experiences come into play as well. Then things get tougher and tougher. That’s why I decided to dig into the baggage – to see what’s there inside and whether there was something worth getting rid of, to lighten the load for the future”.

Mikołaj Łoziński

“The cogs of the story grind us to a pulp, the narrative is governed by reality, the fiction is steeped in realness. This is one of the themes of this dazzling, skillfully wrought and conceived book”.

Artur Madaliński, Dwutygodnik.com

“In the provocative and subversive book, we find a mature writer. He had doubtless undertaken a great challenge in tackling how he has imagined his own family”.

Jarosław Czechowicz, Krytycznym okiem

“Łoziński’s style is incredible. It is elegant and spare. No word here is accidental. The formal minimalism does not, however, limit his capacity to render the protagonists’ experiences: as we read we feel that the author’s restrained style sketches his characters’ profiles with only a few seemingly innocuous facts, which give us more than a several-page description. Understatement is an important mode of communication here. The non-verbalized is felt. Silence and voices combine perfectly”.

Artur Jabłoński, Onet

“Mikołaj Łoziński has surprised me again. He has written a book that seems nothing like the one before. It is more spare in its language, there really are no inessential words here, it is precise as a Swiss watch, composed like a musical score, with its own rhythm, and perhaps, I cannot be sure, it is stripped of emotion, which is what makes it so powerful and striking”.

Remigiusz Grzela

“This book told through many voices is an attempt to undo a tangled family history. It speaks, to a large degree, about abandonment. This motif recurs in each generation. (…) Yet this is not a book from the perspective of a wounded person; on the contrary, every one of its characters is viewed with understanding. Every character tries to grapple with his or her baggage. This book could well be liberating. Not only for the narrator, but for the reader as well”.

Justyna Sobolewska, Polityka