Time Shelter - 2023 International Booker Prize Winner

We’re building on our beautiful Unity community by publishing short reviews written by our customers on new books they’ve enjoyed. We hope that by introducing you to fellow book enthusiasts from across Aotearoa it will invite more connection in life through books!

Here’s a review of Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (translated by Angela Rodel), the 2023 International Booker Prize Winner, from Lisa Mulvey - who’s an Auckland based Maths Teacher and voracious reader.

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“Sometimes it is harder to forget than to remember.”

Time Shelter is the first book written in Bulgarian to win the 2023 International Booker Prize, and a truly deserving win it is too. It’s a beautiful, poetically written novel that's both philosophical and political with much to be learnt about Bulgaria’s history and the power of reflection. It begins with our unnamed narrator setting up a ‘clinic of the past’ with his friend and psychiatrist, Gaustine. These clinics for dementia patients are time capsules of past decades, complete with decor, magazines and even the right brand of cigarettes to make patients feel more at home in the comfort of a familiar setting.

As the clinics become more popular, people without dementia start to seek out the clinics which raises questions such as, why is the past comforting to revisit for some and a place to avoid for others?

“For us the past is the past, and even when we step into it, we know that the exit to the present is open, we can come back with ease. For those who have lost their memories, this door has slammed shut once and for all. For them, the present is a foreign country, while the past is their homeland. The only thing we can do is create a space that is in sync with their internal time.”

The book is powerful in its portrayal of dementia while masterfully incorporating the historical context of Bulgaria and other former communist countries, which is a relatively untouched subject in mainstream literature. Beyond focusing on the past and fading memories, though, Gospodinov concentrates on the human need for connection. He says, “people need to tell stories” and I liked how he described our memories as “souvenirs of the past,” and people without a home or connection are “unbelonging.”

The title, Time Shelter, is cleverly referenced throughout too, there’s this idea that our memories have rooms and in the case of dementia there’s the heartbreaking loss and “ever-quicker emptying of the rooms of my memory.”

To explore profound and life-affirming themes like memory along with identity and nostalgia in such an affecting way is one of the many reasons why I think this novel deserved to win, and I was delighted that it won too as it’s the book I’d rooted for after reading through the shortlist!

It would also be amiss not to acknowledge the impeccable translation by Angela Rodel, because without the art of translators fantastic books such as these would not be accessible to readers. 

From what began as my foray into another shortlist from another literary prize, the experience of reading Time Shelter reminded me of why I enjoy reading; it was immersive and impressive, a wonderful reading experience in fact, and I can’t wait to head down a Georgi Gospodinov hole and discover his backlist.

I highly recommend this book if you appreciate witty, thought-provoking and unique novels.