the prague chimera
Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and one of the largest and most bohemian cities in the European Union. It is important to have an understanding and a sense of Prague to truly appreciate this novel, as most of it takes place there in the late 1990s. LA CHIMERE OF PRAGUE specifically spans the duration of August through December of the year 1998.
It was not long before the action of this novel that Czechoslovakia saw a schism known as the Velvet Revolution and then the Velvet Divorce that saw the country split into the new Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague ranks first and in the late 1990s it became one of the commercial and cultural centers of the entire EU. Author Rick Pryll knows this all too well, having lived in Prague from 1997 to 2002.
Someone who knows and understands Prague even better is the protagonist of this tale, Joseph. He is a former American patriot who now lives and works in Prague. He not only leaves the US behind, but also the memories of his late love. In one of the most interesting love affairs in modern fiction, Joseph was involved with a bisexual mermaid who died under mysterious circumstances. He still intends to get to the bottom of her death, but for now he must focus on his own life and move on.
Joseph recognizes that the change is good and that not everything in his new life in Prague is bad. For example, there is the young Karina with whom he also fell in love. Karina is a waitress-turned-supermodel that Joseph felt she could have a life with, or at least have some really great sex with. Unfortunately, Karina left Joseph and Praga behind when she went to Italy with her English tutor. As Joseph patiently awaits his eventual return, he is immersed in Prague and the family and friends of his with whom he spends time there.
Prague in the late 90s was also a time of sexual revolution and sizzling techno music that seemed to pour out of every nightclub. What will frustrate the reader is how José seems to reject love at every opportunity. Pryll delves into Joseph’s family history and past and you get to know him deeply. He is an extremely sensitive and self-aware person and it is easy to get into his shoes and pass the time as a fellow American living in a foreign country who is still fighting for his own identity.
As a businessman, it is intriguing to see how Joseph feels about Prague and his efforts to become a player at the high finance table. In fact, the socioeconomic status of this time is enough to keep Joseph busy and forget about his love problems and constant mourning for the dead. That is until things take a turn and he reopens old wounds from his past involving his deceased ex-girlfriend. You know it must spell trouble when the only person who could provide all the answers he needs is named Naked Pete. It would probably be cool to say that you have a friend named Naked Pete, the only problem is that he’s terribly unreliable and never seems to answer his phone when you really need him to.
The characters in this story are all somewhat strange, and yet very real. This is the opposite of the Prague that Rick Pryll has invented, a place that almost seems dreamlike or straight out of a fairy tale. With a central figure in Joseph, himself a rather strange and deep-thinking character, Pryll has created a novel that grows on you little by little. THE CHIMERE OF PRAGUE presents a handful of problems for Joseph to solve, and readers of literary fiction will be drawn to this narrative and find themselves rooting for him until the stories’ conclusion.