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A review by brookexwest
The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald
4.0
‘Combustion is the hidden principle behind every artefact we create. The making of a fish-hook, manufacture of a china cup, or production of a television programme, all depend on the same process of combustion. Like our bodies and like our desires, the machines we have devised are possessed of a heart which is slowly reduced to embers.’
A lovely book written about a guy (the author) taking a long, rambling walk through Suffolk and Norfolk who digresses onto various tangents about the past, history, and things that have been long forgotten. It has a beautiful and melancholy tone, focusing on how some things that were once grand and admired have now faded away, been demolished, or have decayed and crumbled down the side of cliff faces. I really enjoyed it and the way that Sebald manipulates time, knitting the forgotten past into his present as he walks across East Anglia’s haunting and (at times) lonely landscapes.
Some parts were tedious and I found myself switching off, especially the final chapter about silk worms. Others, though, were really heartbreaking, like the story about William Browne and Edward Fitzgerald, and the disease that wiped out hundreds-years-old generations of great trees and what this meant to the owners of the orchards. A thoughtful and meandering novel, although definitely not for everyone.
A lovely book written about a guy (the author) taking a long, rambling walk through Suffolk and Norfolk who digresses onto various tangents about the past, history, and things that have been long forgotten. It has a beautiful and melancholy tone, focusing on how some things that were once grand and admired have now faded away, been demolished, or have decayed and crumbled down the side of cliff faces. I really enjoyed it and the way that Sebald manipulates time, knitting the forgotten past into his present as he walks across East Anglia’s haunting and (at times) lonely landscapes.
Some parts were tedious and I found myself switching off, especially the final chapter about silk worms. Others, though, were really heartbreaking, like the story about William Browne and Edward Fitzgerald, and the disease that wiped out hundreds-years-old generations of great trees and what this meant to the owners of the orchards. A thoughtful and meandering novel, although definitely not for everyone.