The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka

Josef Skvorecky is a recently deceased Czech-born author who was known for his dissident literature during the Communist era. This is the first time he has been reviewed in the blog. The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka is a series of detective short stories which take place in and around Prague. The Lieutenant was the protagonist in all the short stories and I read eight of the twelve short stories. I found the tales to be generally delightful and Boruvka was a very different character for this crime genre - intuitive, sad, obese, and most human. A friend who knew I had just traveled through the Czech Republic passed along this book. Ultimately, this 1966 book did capture what life must have been like there 50 years ago, but I’m not a fan of short stories. I’m in the midst of a couple other short story compilations at the moment, and they always leave me a bit dissatisfied with regard to character development and plot. However, on short plane rides or during late nights when sleep is elusive, these short story tales are a nice distraction.