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parodysbird's review against another edition
A beautiful ramble.
I don't know how and if I would recommend this to people but I'm glad that I've read this.
I don't know how and if I would recommend this to people but I'm glad that I've read this.
kingfan30's review against another edition
2.0
I picked this book up and flicked through quickly groaning as I spotted paragraphs that were more than a page long! I The started reading, got around 20 pages in but kept getting distracted as it was a bust week. I put it down and read something else until the weekend when life calmed down and I had time to try and get into it properly. And although those fist twenty or so pages did sink in second time round I’m not sure I should of bothered. This just wasn’t my sort of book. And although there was the odd sentence that stood out as thought provoking, I just didn’t care for any of the characters, and the story line didn’t really hold any interest.
readingpanda's review against another edition
4.0
Arthur Daane is a Dutch expatriate living in Berlin. As we soon find out, he lost his wife and young son in a plane crash a while back. He is unmoored in just about every imaginable way - detached from his country, from his family, from himself. He has a small group of friends, artists of various types, and he has a job as a photographer. But he'd rather spend his time taking photos of people's feet on the streets of Berlin for reasons that are not clear to him.
It's a book where not a lot happens, really. Arthur talks to his friends; he wonders what he's doing with his life and what he should be doing with it, if anything; he meets a woman. But the themes of what it means to belong and how we accomplish that when it isn't effortless are explored from a variety of angles. Nationality and language are nearly characters of their own, and Nooteboom has a number of interesting observations to make on those topics.
One thing I wasn't sure how to react to was the periodic switch of narrators to some sort of omniscient, celestial (?) beings who talk about knowing everything that's going to happen, but only being able to watch it unfold. I never really warmed up to these sections, and became more annoyed with them as the book progressed. Perhaps the point went over my head, but I felt like those digressions were completely unnecessary.
Recommended for: linguists, travelers, people who feel alone in a crowd.
Quote: "Owners - his term for them - of major languages, whether they spoke German, English, or Spanish, always seemed to take it for granted that the less fortunate, who had been saddled with a secret language, would see to it that they could make themselves understood to the rest of the world, despite their initial handicap."
It's a book where not a lot happens, really. Arthur talks to his friends; he wonders what he's doing with his life and what he should be doing with it, if anything; he meets a woman. But the themes of what it means to belong and how we accomplish that when it isn't effortless are explored from a variety of angles. Nationality and language are nearly characters of their own, and Nooteboom has a number of interesting observations to make on those topics.
One thing I wasn't sure how to react to was the periodic switch of narrators to some sort of omniscient, celestial (?) beings who talk about knowing everything that's going to happen, but only being able to watch it unfold. I never really warmed up to these sections, and became more annoyed with them as the book progressed. Perhaps the point went over my head, but I felt like those digressions were completely unnecessary.
Recommended for: linguists, travelers, people who feel alone in a crowd.
Quote: "Owners - his term for them - of major languages, whether they spoke German, English, or Spanish, always seemed to take it for granted that the less fortunate, who had been saddled with a secret language, would see to it that they could make themselves understood to the rest of the world, despite their initial handicap."
thebobsphere's review
2.0
When I was reading All Souls Day I was reminded of those obscure European art house films I used to watch when I was in my early twenties. Slightly weird, interesting and yet lacks something in order to be truly loved.
Arthur Daane is a director of documentaries and treats is life as one whole film that is waiting to be captured on camera. Although he has travelled to some places around the Earth his favourite city is Berlin and while he walks he notices (and films) the details and soaks in the city’s rich history. He also meets his two eccentric friends Arno and Victor and they discuss life food, art and history.
The reason Arthur travels and notices details in the places he goes to is because his wife and son have died in a plane crash ten years earlier and he sees his obsessions as a from of escape.
All goes well until Arthur falls in love and he goes on another adventure which is completely life changing.
The main theme is history, especially Berlin’s. Nooteboom makes sure to squeeze in every aspect of pre wall era Berlin and I liked this aspect of the book. The romantic sub plot works as well and gives the novel an extra dimension. Even the inclusion of a narrator who breaks the fourth wall and tells us about the future of some of the characters is a great idea.
Yet I found it difficult to be absorbed in the story. I definitely did not get bored and neither is the translation off-putting. I just felt that it lacked one more thing and I’m still debating on what it is. True some of the characters aren’t that fully fleshed out but we sympathise with Arthur very easily. I don’t know what it is and it’s still bothering me a bit.
Another thing the paperback version is out of print but you can buy the hardback one at the Book Depository (although I opted for the paperback at abebooks.co.uk)
Arthur Daane is a director of documentaries and treats is life as one whole film that is waiting to be captured on camera. Although he has travelled to some places around the Earth his favourite city is Berlin and while he walks he notices (and films) the details and soaks in the city’s rich history. He also meets his two eccentric friends Arno and Victor and they discuss life food, art and history.
The reason Arthur travels and notices details in the places he goes to is because his wife and son have died in a plane crash ten years earlier and he sees his obsessions as a from of escape.
All goes well until Arthur falls in love and he goes on another adventure which is completely life changing.
The main theme is history, especially Berlin’s. Nooteboom makes sure to squeeze in every aspect of pre wall era Berlin and I liked this aspect of the book. The romantic sub plot works as well and gives the novel an extra dimension. Even the inclusion of a narrator who breaks the fourth wall and tells us about the future of some of the characters is a great idea.
Yet I found it difficult to be absorbed in the story. I definitely did not get bored and neither is the translation off-putting. I just felt that it lacked one more thing and I’m still debating on what it is. True some of the characters aren’t that fully fleshed out but we sympathise with Arthur very easily. I don’t know what it is and it’s still bothering me a bit.
Another thing the paperback version is out of print but you can buy the hardback one at the Book Depository (although I opted for the paperback at abebooks.co.uk)
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