Bruno Shulz's Sanatorium under the sign of the hourglass

After reading this interview I was curious about the aforementioned book. In Bangkok, glancing over the shelves in a used bookstore, I picked this out with a little astonishment. I've since set it aside until today. After going through a couple pages, I realised this is not going to be an easy read.

I am a fan of the quick read because you get the shape of the book that you then fill with the second or third readings. The first reading is the "to taste" reading, to try on for size all the things the book throws at you and see whether it fits. The approach did not work when I read Kathy Acker's Great Expectations or Gravity's Rainbow. It does not work reading Sanatorium under the sign of the hourglass.

I can't read this book in a conventional way, I need to dig under the words and see what's there. I'm less sure of whether it is the book that is making me slow down or the way I have learned to respond to this kind of writing.