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A review by amerdale
Der amerikanische Architekt by Amy Waldman
4.0
Read the original, German version here
I got this book as an ARC from the German publisher Heyne.
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I came across this book by chance, read a few pages of the excerpt and knew instantly that i just had to read the whole novel. And I haven't been disappointed.
It is a very fascinating debate about the US after 9/11 and shows successfully the complexity of emotions and that there is not one correct reaction or that the rationally right solution is also feeling right emotionally. And I'm not only ttalking about the characters in the novel, but also about me as the reader. At least as far as I am able to imagine the feelings caused by the attacks - as someone with no personal ties to the people directly affected.
And that - the ability to be affected as a reader - is one of the great things about this novel. It always feels realistic, as if everything really could have happened this way, if someone with an islamic background and name would ahve won the open competition (and such a competition really happened). The Reactions from the different persons in the novel all feel real and never exaggerated even though most of the characters are reduced to a few characteristics - mostly their reaction and opinion towards the memorial. But then again in the context of the novel this reduction makes sense (at least for me).
The end of the plot contains a time lapse in the future and that happened a bit to sudden and out of nowhere for me. There was a tonal change for me that just did not fit to the rest of the book. But I have to admit I can think of another way to end the book without leaving all questions unanswered.
Judging purely by the entertainment value this surely is not the best book I have read this year, but it is one I will continue to think about for quite a while after finishing it.
And by the way: I really like Mos (or rather the authors) conceptions for the memorial and I am a tad sad that it is just fiction. Sound like it would have made a great place.
I got this book as an ARC from the German publisher Heyne.
----
I came across this book by chance, read a few pages of the excerpt and knew instantly that i just had to read the whole novel. And I haven't been disappointed.
It is a very fascinating debate about the US after 9/11 and shows successfully the complexity of emotions and that there is not one correct reaction or that the rationally right solution is also feeling right emotionally. And I'm not only ttalking about the characters in the novel, but also about me as the reader. At least as far as I am able to imagine the feelings caused by the attacks - as someone with no personal ties to the people directly affected.
And that - the ability to be affected as a reader - is one of the great things about this novel. It always feels realistic, as if everything really could have happened this way, if someone with an islamic background and name would ahve won the open competition (and such a competition really happened). The Reactions from the different persons in the novel all feel real and never exaggerated even though most of the characters are reduced to a few characteristics - mostly their reaction and opinion towards the memorial. But then again in the context of the novel this reduction makes sense (at least for me).
The end of the plot contains a time lapse in the future and that happened a bit to sudden and out of nowhere for me. There was a tonal change for me that just did not fit to the rest of the book. But I have to admit I can think of another way to end the book without leaving all questions unanswered.
Judging purely by the entertainment value this surely is not the best book I have read this year, but it is one I will continue to think about for quite a while after finishing it.
And by the way: I really like Mos (or rather the authors) conceptions for the memorial and I am a tad sad that it is just fiction. Sound like it would have made a great place.