Our Circus Presents...

Romanian journalist Teodorovici's quizzical fable pursues the thwarted efforts of a couple of ne'er-do-wells to commit suicide. The narrator, having experienced his share of drunkenness and failure, no longer entertains hope for the future and contemplates jumping from the ledge of his fifth-story apartment building each morning. One day, he ends up “saving” a young man from hanging himself. The narrator soon learns the man (referred to only by his orange suspenders) frequently stages his hanging, only to be rescued by passers-by. Still, the narrator senses a kindred spirit and follows him to a bar, where the two become involved in a brawl. Later, they pursue then dodge “the urge,” and the novel allows the randomness of their actions to stand in for a kind of existential tension. In the end, though, for all its playfulness, there's no rhyme, reason or plot to this sadly inexplicable adventure. (Nov.)