This is a strange book and, while I can't say I enjoyed it, it was compelling in an odd sort of way.

Paweł, a failing businessman, is on the run from people to whom he owes money. He seeks help from former acquaintance, Jacek, who is also being pursued (although I couldn't tell you precisely why). Then there is Bolek, a hunter rather than prey, and the people working for him, along for the ride. And there are those innocently caught up in the trouble, Zosia and Beata (women, of course) and the more complex Syl, still essentially a victim.

By the end of the novel, the plot doesn't seem to have moved on a great deal. What you do get is a detailed description of the topography of Warsaw - tram and bus routes, the various streets taken by drivers or pedestrians and references to the city's various districts. I've visited Warsaw three times, but don't know the city inside out and found all these references a bit much. In some senses this book feels like an ode to Warsaw and its people, and I felt very much an outsider looking in.

Various characters also reminisce about their childhoods. I know that this novel is set not too long after the fall of Communism and I was expecting there to be some nostalgia for past times, but I didn't get the impression that the characters' childhoods were any less bleak than the present. Essentially, nothing good happens in the book.

I'm sure this book is great if you look for atmosphere in a novel - there are lots of sights, sounds and smells and a general air of menace - but if, like me, you appreciate engaging characters and a plot that moves forward, then it probably isn't for you.

She wanted them to come back, to open the door and talk to her and touch her, because human pain is better than inhuman fear.

I've had this book for a while. Bought it because I liked the cover and the big red number '9' for a title was cool. I like the number '9'. But about the book...

I won't even attempt to pronounce this writer's name and compared to the street and neighborhood names in the book his name is as easy to say as 'Bob'. The book was originally written in Polish. The English translation was beautiful.

Stasiuk, or 'Bob' as I called him, writes like a poet. The prose is a bit stream-of-conscience like. Reading '9' is like being a wraith floating around the streets of Warsaw bumping into some of the seedy characters trying to get by in a new capitalistic society. It's a simple story. Pawel owes money to a loan shark. They are after him. He runs around the city and mixes with drug dealers and low lifers. But Stasiuk holds this simple tale together by introducing the main protagonist, the city of Warsaw in the 90's.

The book is dark. It is dismal. There are some light moments (the crippled cat not being one). I'm glad this book wasn't called '3'... because I might not have bought it.

'A book like this makes most British and American writing seem so asinine.' - Tom Tomaszewski, Independent on Sunday

Read the entire review here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...

And the NY Times review is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/boo...

Stasiuk on Beckett's face: 'I would like to go to Ireland. I'm a great Van Morrison fan. And Samuel Beckett is a first-degree star. Of all writers in the world, his face is the most beautiful. I have written two essays about his face. His way of ageing was just so much in tune with the way minerals and trees age.'

The complete Guardian article is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/... ( )

This is a fragmented elegiac for a many apsects of postmodern life in 1990's lower class Warsaw. The book is hard to read and it can't be due totally to translation. The author moves frequently between plot lines, and uses pronouns almost exclusively. The reader is left not knowing which character is analyzing tram routes, bus numbers and routes, train numbers and the lives of their parents until halfway or more into each segment of the story. This does not engender suspense as much as frustration. The story is, for the first 75% of the book, a plotless trek with drug addicts and unemployed youth through sketchy parts of Warsaw in the cold. Near the end there is apparently a weaving together of some plot lines however the author does not pull off any kind of resolution or symbolism or conclusion. I would not recommend this book. ( )

I agree with DieFledermaus in finding the style very flat, but wonder if that is the translator's fault. I found the gritty milieu of cement block Warsaw both depressing and interesting. The desperate characters are driven to desperate ends, but I wouldn't call this a thriller because the pace is too slow. I wish the protagonist had some good quality that made him more appealing. ( )

I did not find this to be an enjoyable book. It was certainly interesting in a way, and it definitely shows that the author can write, but I never found it compelling. I’d consider reading another one of his books – this one might have been something of an experiment – but I’d have to browse it beforehand. There’s not much of a plot – various characters wandering around Warsaw, occasionally trying to avoid criminals chasing them – and all the characters are pretty much interchangeable, but I’ve liked other books that had minimal plot and character (mostly experimental-type lit).

There's a certain sub-genre of book that features aimless young people drinking, taking drugs and having sex, and many people seem to dislike this type of novel - because it's boring or self-indulgent or the characters are unlikeable. I don't hate this type of book on principle, so that wasn't the reason that I didn't end up liking Nine.

The main problem was the flat and affectless prose and excessive random descriptions. Clearly, the author was trying to match his style to his numbed, indifferent characters, but it didn’t make for good reading. There are times when the matter-of-fact listing of action works well, as a contrast to the out-of-the-ordinary events. For example, in the opening scene, Pawel wakes up in a trashed apartment. The author describes him cleaning up and feeling slightly frustrated, but never alarmed or concerned. The scene immediately creates suspense – what did happen? – and establishes Pawel’s inert personality. However, much of the book reads as a list of things – Pawel got on the bus. A man crossed the street. There was a dog. At first, this style is interesting also, because the author will occasionally throw in a long, lyrical sentence, providing another sort of contrast. In addition, what he’s describing is often quite mundane or unpleasant (a woman relieving herself on the street, crowds in the subway). Still, there was just too much tediously described scenery. It’s possible that someone who had a good knowledge of Warsaw might find this interesting, especially since the author goes into detail about the bus routes and different areas of the city that the characters travel to – there might be something there that I missed (for example – if characters move to increasingly shoddy parts of town).

The characters are all like Pawel – unmoved by anything, never surprised when random people appear in their apartments, mostly discussing random things. There are some good parts where the author again portrays contrasts – Pawel and his friend Jacek talking past each other (Pawel trying to relate his predicament, while Jacek can only obsess about a missing gun) and some of the gangsters who are chasing them musing on minor things while they beat a man senseless. Again, though, the conversations could almost be from any of the characters – they all sound alike, and are only distinguished by their “jobs” – Pawel as a failed businessman on the run, Jacek an addict and the others criminals. When Jacek’s girlfriend Beata, a hippie, appears on the scene, it’s a bit of a shock because she has opinions and emotions – but then she quickly becomes uninteresting, just settling into the “girlfriend” role – going around with Jacek and doing what he says. I think the author was deliberately making his characters similar, since each new paragraph would be about a different character and he generally used “he” and “she” to describe them, so it could take a bit of time to figure out who was being described. However, this method didn’t make any of the characters interesting.

Also, for a book that was supposed to be showing the grim realism of present-day Warsaw, there were a number of rather fantastic coincidences – mostly characters randomly meeting each other on the street or being connected in a convenient fashion.

I didn't think it was a bad book, but I wouldn't recommend it. ( )