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howardyou's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
annaha99's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
brackettomensetter's review
4.0
Ephemeral: difficult to grasp, not in terms of comprehension, but in the sense that upon grasping, what is left is a wisp. Melancholy inducing. At times I am made to think of Japanese literature, specifically regarding how there isn't a specific point, but a specific feeling, that is pursued.
tomrubenreads's review against another edition
5.0
Misselijkmakend mooi. Tsja, wat kan ik zeggen? Sebald; weergaloze omschrijvingen, zinnen, zinsnedes, aaneenrijgingen, herinneringen, gedachten, feiten, verslagen; met verslagenheid overrompeld uitgelezen. Hoe kan ik ooit zoiets bewerkstelligen?
casparb's review against another edition
dear me he was taking whatever he was taking for saturn here. I'm obsessed. Actually you could read this as a prelude (seemingly enfolds the prelude into this too, to saturn if you felt that was important.
perfect text für presentations, re-presentations. part one's protagonist (set in the early 19thc, napoleonic era) refers to frustrations with landscape , the framing of images. land-scape, scape from OE scippan, to form, humanly (or divinely). to represent. Even he is something of a representation, being Stendhal, or rather, stendhal without the moniker/pseudonym 'stendhal'. Sebald does not make this explicit, referring to him all along as 'beyle. So Beyle's kind of an anonymous original, deprived of the model, his representational identity. Later we get The Kafka Stuff, which is fantASTIC !! & o , , idon;t want to go on too far , , I'm just here for WGMS
perfect text für presentations, re-presentations. part one's protagonist (set in the early 19thc, napoleonic era) refers to frustrations with landscape , the framing of images. land-scape, scape from OE scippan, to form, humanly (or divinely). to represent. Even he is something of a representation, being Stendhal, or rather, stendhal without the moniker/pseudonym 'stendhal'. Sebald does not make this explicit, referring to him all along as 'beyle. So Beyle's kind of an anonymous original, deprived of the model, his representational identity. Later we get The Kafka Stuff, which is fantASTIC !! & o , , idon;t want to go on too far , , I'm just here for WGMS
horfhorfhorf's review
1.0
This book was written in the 40's in German, and wasn't translated into English until 1990. (I think we could've done without.)
ericfheiman's review against another edition
5.0
I'm still not sure what makes Sebald's melancholy work so great, but it's great nonetheless. Read this on your next solo trip (preferably with Max Richter's "Three Worlds" playing the background). Onto rereading his other three novels...
celesten's review
3.0
I don’t think I was in the right headspace to ‘get’ this book, although maybe that’s the point. I found myself getting lost in the long descriptive ramblings, forgetting how they started, and needing to reread passages, often flicking back and forth between sections to remind myself where he’d referenced something before. At times I felt like I was trying to solve a puzzle that I wasn’t paying attention to, and I’d lost all the edges and corner pieces. Other times I was hypnotised by Sebald’s writing, his descriptions of places and paintings and people were so incredibly visceral and complete that I couldn’t put it down. I think it’s a book that I need to reread - not necessarily because I loved it (because I didn’t) but because I feel like there’s something I missed - but maybe I didn’t and that’s the point?