Reviews - The Carpet Makers

238 reviews for:

The Carpet Makers are men who spend all of their entire adult lives weaving a carpet from hair, which he gets from his wives and daughters. He is only allowed to have one son, to inherit his carpet debt, so extra baby boys are killed. The people believe that they are serving their emperor, whom they worship as a god, and the whole carpet-making/buying/shipping process is steeped in religious ritual, to maintain power/control.

This story is full of imaginative events but also devastating and miserable circumstances and actions.

pebbmonster's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

bethanyruth's review

5.0

Andreas Eschbach is one of the foremost German science fiction writers. The Carpet Makers is his first book to be translated into English; I definitely wish there were more. The stories in each chapter are interwoven much like the threads of the carpets that are so essential to the work. Characters are realistic and well-developed, and the setting is beautifully portrayed.

This book is a wonderful read, containing all the ingredients that will satisfy a voracious appetite for a good book. I am purposefully not including plot details in order to leave the enjoyment fully intact.

xtinaji's review against another edition

4.0

Wanting to understand the absurd concept of this book - carpets made of hair, knotted over the course of a lifetime - is an instant hook that pulls you along the course of the novel. The Hair Carpet Weavers is made up of a series of short stories that interlock with one another, woven together to create a story tapestry that stretches across space and millenia. Andreas Eschbach does an incredible job of showcasing broad trends and beliefs through the lens of particular characters, and each POV is distinct, colorful, and complex. What a masterfully crafted tale that uses its characters and their emotions to elevate the grander plot reveals.

That being said, as someone who likes to have closure with characters, this book spears through them to make way for plot progression. I suppose it is meant to show the passage of time, or even just how human lives are simultaneously so grand up close and so miniscule from afar, but I personally would have had a better emotional payoff from seeing how previously mentioned characters impacted the greater narrative. The most glaring issue is how this criticism applies to the book's female characters and how they, though as emotionally complex as any other character, lack any true agency when they're not tied to male characters. Lamita is the worst example of this,with her entire internal struggles and resolution being tied to men for the sake of executing the plot. There are also some characters that do not foreseeably have any direct impact on the plot or other characters, and are only there to introduce elements of the setting - quite a pity since I ended up being most attached to a few of them.

Nonetheless, what an interesting little book on the futility of work, power, art, life - and how these are all tied together. Eschbach will run circles around you with how answers only lead to more questions, and that the mystery of the hair carpet weavers is resolved in as absurd a manner as its introduction. I am also impressed by what a gorgeous translation this is, and how Eschbach unfurls a space saga and conspiracy in the span of a few hundred pages.

quellek's review

5.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Unique, completely absorbing, occasionally horrifying. This went up alleys I didn't even know I had. I'm grateful for the word-of-mouth that drew me to it and now I feel called to evangelize, if nothing else to create a situation in which I can talk to someone about it.