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loesdebruijn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
san04's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s not hard to figure out the main theme of the book, but it kind of feels like reading 3 separate stories. Many, or even most of the questions remain unsolved, which gives the story a bit of a dissatisfying ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, Child death, and Grief
daansb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ebeeb's review against another edition
3.5
There are elements of this book that remind me very much of Italo Calvino, with passages set in the second person, and more self-reference than you can shake a meta-stick at. But unlike something like If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, the story here is much more than mere window dressing for the author’s clever linguistic tricks. Instead, we find a modern retelling of the Frankenstein story, beginning with a chilling recounting of the Jewish myth of the golem. This part was so good it easily could’ve stood on its own as a short story.
We soon settle however onto our present-day Victor Frankenstein — Victor Werker by these lights — who is styled here as a biologist who has succeeded in creating a tiny, complex crystal which is possessed of the most basic metabolism and which also has the ability to reproduce. In other words: life. I enjoyed that the so-called eobiont is rarely discussed directly, however. Instead, the story is much more concerned with the human experience of life and death, and its philosophical observations are often infused with a biting irony. There is a description of childbirth here that nearly brought me to tears.
As is often the case with books that pull out the lexical fireworks in their opening pages, however, the latter half can’t quite keep up the momentum, and the final section especially feels too drawn out, even repetitive at times, while at the same time not quite managing to deal in a satisfying way with all the themes presented earlier. Because of this, I’m not quite sure what to make of this book; parts of it were certainly some of the best prose I’ve read in a long while and really quite moving, but other very sizeable portions had me looking forward to the last page. Overall, I’d say this book is very much worth reading, even if the best bits are concentrated in the first half. I can’t shake the feeling that this is a lesser work by a great author.
We soon settle however onto our present-day Victor Frankenstein — Victor Werker by these lights — who is styled here as a biologist who has succeeded in creating a tiny, complex crystal which is possessed of the most basic metabolism and which also has the ability to reproduce. In other words: life. I enjoyed that the so-called eobiont is rarely discussed directly, however. Instead, the story is much more concerned with the human experience of life and death, and its philosophical observations are often infused with a biting irony. There is a description of childbirth here that nearly brought me to tears.
As is often the case with books that pull out the lexical fireworks in their opening pages, however, the latter half can’t quite keep up the momentum, and the final section especially feels too drawn out, even repetitive at times, while at the same time not quite managing to deal in a satisfying way with all the themes presented earlier. Because of this, I’m not quite sure what to make of this book; parts of it were certainly some of the best prose I’ve read in a long while and really quite moving, but other very sizeable portions had me looking forward to the last page. Overall, I’d say this book is very much worth reading, even if the best bits are concentrated in the first half. I can’t shake the feeling that this is a lesser work by a great author.
sushai's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book and how the unrelated people have stories that intertwine. I even got into the complicated Hebrew alphabet and DNA-sequencing passages. If not for the incongruous last chapter thrown on, this easily would have been a "5." Mulisch is fast becoming a favorite.
phouweling's review against another edition
4.0
My first Mulisch after many, many years. What a pleasant rediscovery. Beautiful language and an intruiging story. I especially liked the part about the rabbi and Victor's letters.
jamesc's review against another edition
3.0
I read this in Dutch so I don't know if the English translation is the same. I liked the book but it did not hold together - it is more like a set of essays on the same topic with linked/shared characters. The final section is a novella which is the longest and least satisfying to me - it got to purple in the prose and too proustian in its detail. He's a great writer but this is not his best.
danyelag's review
4.0
Was made to read this for class, and I really enjoyed this book. It is a modern day gothic but also Kafka type book and it works. Really enjoyed the wit balanced with the darker tones of the novel and it did the tropes well. It’s very layered, with multiple stories, and so much of it I didn’t get because of this aspect. I look forward to reading it again just to analyze the multiple themes and storylines.
a_robin_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Read before I logged my reading.
Borrowed from my library at school. Didn't understand anything in this book.
Borrowed from my library at school. Didn't understand anything in this book.
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