Reviewed by Ian

This is a story of a person who lives alone with a television in a block of flats, where the reception is influenced by the surroundings, including people. The person finds a way to get his neighbours to cooperate to improve reception during his favourite afternoon shows.

The story is well structured, and I thought, starts and ends at the right places. It is an excellent effort at taking us inside the head of a person whose thought processes and mode of relating to the real world are so different from ours (I hope!). What I like is the maintenance of internal consistency in the attitude of the main character.

There are a few rough edges and small lapses that detract from the mood a bit - as far as I can make out "inhabited the conjoined apartment" translates as 'lived next door' so why not just say so? In the dialogue with the neighbour, it would emphasise the special qualities of the main character if the neighbour's reactions as expressed in direct speech were more 'normal' and not having the same feel to them as the main character's rather idiosyncratic view of life.

I quite like the ending, although perhaps a mental institution......?