Scan barcode
stuarthaynes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kettlekitten's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kelsiludvigsen's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this. Especially because I live in Denmark. The story was so well written, funny and moving.
saralynnburnett's review against another edition
4.0
Even though this book is divided into four parts, it really felt like three books in one. The first bit was about Laurids Madsen, ‘the man who took a trip to heaven and saw Saint Peter’s bare ass’ during the First Schleswig War in 1848. His son, Albert, then crisscrosses the globe looking for him after Laurids has gone missing for several years but has failed to turn up on any of the missing ships registers. The first part had a fun feeling to it: shrunken heads, shooting cannibals with stolen pearls after the ammunition has run out, being accosted at sea by a swam of butterflies that were driven off a nearby island during a hurricane, but it lacked the sense of place the second part of the book had. The author wants to take you to Australia, Hawaii, and Somoa, but all you get from each location is smattering of palm trees, grimy bars, and some sun filtering through the cabin window.
The second part of the book focused on Laurids’s son, Albert, and his visions of doom during the First World War. I found this particularly interesting because the only time you as the reader face this war is through his prophetic nightmares. Albert becomes a mentor to a fatherless boy named Knud Erik and tells him tales not only of his travels around the world but of his visions of the future of their home town of Marstal. If this book has a protagonist – this is it: Marstal. The Danish seafaring town really comes alive during Albert’s story and you will find yourself rooting for it and worrying about. There is also a bit of romance in this portion as Albert, even though he is an old man, courts Knud Erik’s young widowed mother, Klara, but this led to a lot of philosophizing about life and death that I probably could have done without.
The story in the last part of the book focuses on Knud Erik, his motley crew of boyhood friends from Marstal, and Klara, who holds they key to Marstal’s doom or success (does she choose to save the town or destroy it? I won’t say here…) as they face the struggles of economic depression and WWII. I quite enjoyed reading about WWII from an entirely different perspective than I have before. Whenever I’ve read about the firebombing of London I rarely thought of the sailors onboard ships in the Thames who were drifting out to sea with the current in order to avoid vibration mines dropped via parachute by the Germans that starting their propellers would trigger.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. The sailing bits didn’t live up to Patrick O’Brian or the Horatio Hornblower series but now there will always be a place in my heart for the tiny town of Marstal.
The second part of the book focused on Laurids’s son, Albert, and his visions of doom during the First World War. I found this particularly interesting because the only time you as the reader face this war is through his prophetic nightmares. Albert becomes a mentor to a fatherless boy named Knud Erik and tells him tales not only of his travels around the world but of his visions of the future of their home town of Marstal. If this book has a protagonist – this is it: Marstal. The Danish seafaring town really comes alive during Albert’s story and you will find yourself rooting for it and worrying about. There is also a bit of romance in this portion as Albert, even though he is an old man, courts Knud Erik’s young widowed mother, Klara, but this led to a lot of philosophizing about life and death that I probably could have done without.
The story in the last part of the book focuses on Knud Erik, his motley crew of boyhood friends from Marstal, and Klara, who holds they key to Marstal’s doom or success (does she choose to save the town or destroy it? I won’t say here…) as they face the struggles of economic depression and WWII. I quite enjoyed reading about WWII from an entirely different perspective than I have before. Whenever I’ve read about the firebombing of London I rarely thought of the sailors onboard ships in the Thames who were drifting out to sea with the current in order to avoid vibration mines dropped via parachute by the Germans that starting their propellers would trigger.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. The sailing bits didn’t live up to Patrick O’Brian or the Horatio Hornblower series but now there will always be a place in my heart for the tiny town of Marstal.
towercorvid's review against another edition
5.0
This book is truly epic in scope spanning several wars and following multiple generations of sailors from the Danish town of Marstal. Jensen's fictional history weaves together the individual stories, people, and locations into a tapestry that's engrossing and hard to put down. Although long, if you like diving deep into a story that doesn't just focus on one person but evolves over time, this book is well worth the investment.
brian_loane's review against another edition
The best literature is never one thing. Moby-Dick is an adventure tale, a sea yarn, and a philosophical/religious study. Macbeth is a political drama, a psychological examination, and perhaps even a twisted love story. Carsten Jensen’s novel, We, the Drowned, continues this tradition. His novel is simultaneously a war story, a travelogue, a generational epic, and a town history. He accomplishes all of these tasks through his unique narrative voice, and the characters that it creates.
There are two immediately distinguishing traits about Jensen’s voice that manifest in the very first pages. The first is the reporter-like quality to the narration. For instance, the very first sentence of the book is: “Many years ago there lived a man called Laurids Madsen, who went up to Heaven and came down again, thanks to his boots.” There are no metaphors or hyperboles present, even though he describes something totally outlandish. The fantastic creeps into the novel, but Jensen treats them as normal events. This style of making the extraordinary seem ordinary exists throughout the book, and it is one of the pillars of the story.
The other distinguishing quality of Jensen’s novel is the first person plural voice—the “we”—that tells the story. Immediately, the reader has to wonder, “Who is telling me this story,” and it becomes clear that the group responsible for the yarn is the citizens of Marstal, which is the town that the book focuses on. The townspeople all tell the history of the town, while also participating in. How much does the group know about each other’s personal lives, and how forthcoming is the collective? These are fascinating questions, which Jensen incorporates into the novel.
So what story does Jensen weave with this unique voice? He creates a book where the characters assume great importance, and one of my favorite characters is Albert Madsen. As a young man, Albert embarks on a quest to find his missing father, and in doing so he sails around the world. On this trip, he sees the ugly parts of the human character, and he returns to Marstal a changed man. This adventure seems like it would fit in with the stories of Defoe, but Jensen takes ownership of the story through his voice and ideas. The power of Jensen is that he can acknowledge his influences while remaining free to tell his own story.
The story follows Albert’s entire life, but he goes through a sort of crisis of the soul when WWI strikes. In a brilliant storytelling move, Albert begins to receive visions in his dreams of his fellow townsmen who will die in the conflict. He writes these names down in a ledger, so he almost becomes a prophet of death, and he begins to feel like he is walking around a town filled with the dead. Then life offers him an escape in the form of parenthood. His tale becomes about progress, legacy, and life. And he is only one of the characters in this epic novel.
The book is one of changes. The town, the people, the ships, they all become something else, but the sea, one of the most volatile forces on the Earth, always remains part of the story. The sea allows the characters to see the world, but it also desires a toll. People must die, and the world goes on. We, the Drowned is an immensely readable novel, yet it discusses life so delicately and acutely that you will close the book a changed person.
There are two immediately distinguishing traits about Jensen’s voice that manifest in the very first pages. The first is the reporter-like quality to the narration. For instance, the very first sentence of the book is: “Many years ago there lived a man called Laurids Madsen, who went up to Heaven and came down again, thanks to his boots.” There are no metaphors or hyperboles present, even though he describes something totally outlandish. The fantastic creeps into the novel, but Jensen treats them as normal events. This style of making the extraordinary seem ordinary exists throughout the book, and it is one of the pillars of the story.
The other distinguishing quality of Jensen’s novel is the first person plural voice—the “we”—that tells the story. Immediately, the reader has to wonder, “Who is telling me this story,” and it becomes clear that the group responsible for the yarn is the citizens of Marstal, which is the town that the book focuses on. The townspeople all tell the history of the town, while also participating in. How much does the group know about each other’s personal lives, and how forthcoming is the collective? These are fascinating questions, which Jensen incorporates into the novel.
So what story does Jensen weave with this unique voice? He creates a book where the characters assume great importance, and one of my favorite characters is Albert Madsen. As a young man, Albert embarks on a quest to find his missing father, and in doing so he sails around the world. On this trip, he sees the ugly parts of the human character, and he returns to Marstal a changed man. This adventure seems like it would fit in with the stories of Defoe, but Jensen takes ownership of the story through his voice and ideas. The power of Jensen is that he can acknowledge his influences while remaining free to tell his own story.
The story follows Albert’s entire life, but he goes through a sort of crisis of the soul when WWI strikes. In a brilliant storytelling move, Albert begins to receive visions in his dreams of his fellow townsmen who will die in the conflict. He writes these names down in a ledger, so he almost becomes a prophet of death, and he begins to feel like he is walking around a town filled with the dead. Then life offers him an escape in the form of parenthood. His tale becomes about progress, legacy, and life. And he is only one of the characters in this epic novel.
The book is one of changes. The town, the people, the ships, they all become something else, but the sea, one of the most volatile forces on the Earth, always remains part of the story. The sea allows the characters to see the world, but it also desires a toll. People must die, and the world goes on. We, the Drowned is an immensely readable novel, yet it discusses life so delicately and acutely that you will close the book a changed person.
bfmermer's review against another edition
5.0
Denize kıyısı olan bir şehirde büyümedim. Çocukken tatillerde de plaja gitmeyince benim için hep uzak, anlamsız bir su yığını oldu deniz. Okul için İstanbul'a gittiğimde Beşiktaş'tan boğaza bakıp bu muymuş dediğimi hatırlıyorum, insanların ölüp bittiği deniz bu muydu yani. Gelgelelim Biz Boğulanlar benim hayal dahi edemeyeceğim bir yerde, denizin yalnızca hayatın bir parçası değil aynı zamanda ekmek teknesi de olduğu bir Danimarka kasabası olan Marstal'da geçiyor. Hatta romanın en önemli iki başkarakterini söyle deseniz biri deniz, diğeri de Marstal derim.
Hikaye Marstal'da, 19. yüzyılın ortalarında başlıyor. Üç çocuk babası Laurids Madsen ile denize açılıyoruz. Ancak uzun süre eşlik edemiyoruz Madsen'e, Danimarka-Almanya savaşının kargaşası içinde kaybediyoruz onu. Marstal'dan ayrılıp geri dönemeyen yüzlerce denizciden biri oluyor. Ardından oğlu Albert'ın peşine takılıyoruz, bu sefer Laurids'i bulma amacıyla. Hikaye sadece denizlerde geçmiyor tabi. Marstal'da da sıklıkla vakit geçiriyoruz. Denize açılan kocası ne zaman dönecek, hatta dönecek mi bilmeyen kadınları, üç beş senede bir gördüğü babasına bir yabancıymış gibi bakan çocukları görüyoruz orada. Deniz Marstal için hem nimet hem de lanet. Hikayenin son kısmı bunu iyice açık ediyor bize, çünkü bunca sene çektiklerinden sorumlu tuttuğu denize savaş açan bir kadın var bu kısımda. Albert'ın mirasını devralıp tüm varlığını denizle mücadele etmek için kullanan, ancak aynı zamanda oğlu Knud Erik'i denize kaptıran Klara Friis. Knud Erik de üçüncü nesli temsil ediyor. 2. Dünya Savaşı yıllarında Erik'le beraber hayatta kalmaya çalışıyoruz, savaşı bütün dehşetiyle yaşıyoruz biz de. Ve her şey tekrar Marstal'a bağlanıyor, onlarca sene süren yüzlerce küçük hikaye başladığı yerde bitiyor.
Kitap sıklıkla birinci çoğul şahsın ağzından, "biz" diyerek anlatılıyor. Bazen karakterlerin bakış açısına geçtiğimiz de oluyor ama bu geçişler çok doğal, anlatımın güzelliği içinde göze batmıyor asla. Bu kadar hacimli bir kitap için en büyük çekincem bir noktadan sonra sıkılacağım olur ama Biz Boğulanlar'da böyle bir şey olmadı. Gerçi ikinci bölümde hikayenin temposu biraz düştü, fakat Jensen'in karakterlerin iç dünyasını, çelişkilerini anlatmaktaki başarısı bu sayfaları da keyifle okunur hale getirmiş.
Nur Beier'in çevirisi ve düştüğü çevirmen notları harika. Editörlük de fena değil ancak birkaç dipnotta sayfa numarası verilmeden önceki dipnotların işaret edilmesi çok anlamsız olmuş, o dipnotun hangi sayfada olduğunu nereden bileceğiz ki.
Büyülü gerçekçiliğe neredeyse hiç dokunmasa da Yüzyıllık Yalnızlık'ı andıran, destansı bir roman Biz Boğulanlar. Çok sevdim, hatta Sessiz Ev'le beraber 2021'de şu ana dek okuduğum en iyi kitap diyebilirim.
Hikaye Marstal'da, 19. yüzyılın ortalarında başlıyor. Üç çocuk babası Laurids Madsen ile denize açılıyoruz. Ancak uzun süre eşlik edemiyoruz Madsen'e, Danimarka-Almanya savaşının kargaşası içinde kaybediyoruz onu. Marstal'dan ayrılıp geri dönemeyen yüzlerce denizciden biri oluyor. Ardından oğlu Albert'ın peşine takılıyoruz, bu sefer Laurids'i bulma amacıyla. Hikaye sadece denizlerde geçmiyor tabi. Marstal'da da sıklıkla vakit geçiriyoruz. Denize açılan kocası ne zaman dönecek, hatta dönecek mi bilmeyen kadınları, üç beş senede bir gördüğü babasına bir yabancıymış gibi bakan çocukları görüyoruz orada. Deniz Marstal için hem nimet hem de lanet. Hikayenin son kısmı bunu iyice açık ediyor bize, çünkü bunca sene çektiklerinden sorumlu tuttuğu denize savaş açan bir kadın var bu kısımda. Albert'ın mirasını devralıp tüm varlığını denizle mücadele etmek için kullanan, ancak aynı zamanda oğlu Knud Erik'i denize kaptıran Klara Friis. Knud Erik de üçüncü nesli temsil ediyor. 2. Dünya Savaşı yıllarında Erik'le beraber hayatta kalmaya çalışıyoruz, savaşı bütün dehşetiyle yaşıyoruz biz de. Ve her şey tekrar Marstal'a bağlanıyor, onlarca sene süren yüzlerce küçük hikaye başladığı yerde bitiyor.
Kitap sıklıkla birinci çoğul şahsın ağzından, "biz" diyerek anlatılıyor. Bazen karakterlerin bakış açısına geçtiğimiz de oluyor ama bu geçişler çok doğal, anlatımın güzelliği içinde göze batmıyor asla. Bu kadar hacimli bir kitap için en büyük çekincem bir noktadan sonra sıkılacağım olur ama Biz Boğulanlar'da böyle bir şey olmadı. Gerçi ikinci bölümde hikayenin temposu biraz düştü, fakat Jensen'in karakterlerin iç dünyasını, çelişkilerini anlatmaktaki başarısı bu sayfaları da keyifle okunur hale getirmiş.
Nur Beier'in çevirisi ve düştüğü çevirmen notları harika. Editörlük de fena değil ancak birkaç dipnotta sayfa numarası verilmeden önceki dipnotların işaret edilmesi çok anlamsız olmuş, o dipnotun hangi sayfada olduğunu nereden bileceğiz ki.
Büyülü gerçekçiliğe neredeyse hiç dokunmasa da Yüzyıllık Yalnızlık'ı andıran, destansı bir roman Biz Boğulanlar. Çok sevdim, hatta Sessiz Ev'le beraber 2021'de şu ana dek okuduğum en iyi kitap diyebilirim.
debordes1989's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
My own words betray me at how I feel regarding this book. I could write paragraphs citing all the things I loved about it and still not say enough.
Jensen spent time, love, and care to create something haunting and beautiful. I was enveloped in the frigid fogs and sprayed by salty foam. My heart sank with the unfortunate many who never did rise again above the surface. The consistency of quality in which every part of this was told is masterful. Bastards and good men alike are weighed and found wanting by the sea.
Historical fiction is not really my type of read but this rises above the genre with grim determination. It is a grand confirmation that life is unfair and yet, a reminder. If you hold fast, you'll get to port or peace and either is welcome.
Jensen spent time, love, and care to create something haunting and beautiful. I was enveloped in the frigid fogs and sprayed by salty foam. My heart sank with the unfortunate many who never did rise again above the surface. The consistency of quality in which every part of this was told is masterful. Bastards and good men alike are weighed and found wanting by the sea.
Historical fiction is not really my type of read but this rises above the genre with grim determination. It is a grand confirmation that life is unfair and yet, a reminder. If you hold fast, you'll get to port or peace and either is welcome.
mango_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25