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A review by aksyring
Das Wochenende by Bernhard Schlink
4.0
Once again, another fantastic book. After reading Guilt of the Past, I am amazed how the author is able to weave those issues into fiction. Sometimes when you present real-world moral dilemmas, etc., into fiction, they stick out like a sore thumb, but he creates here a story that really delves into some important issues. Jorg is a radical revolutionary, convicted of killing four people, and essentially a home-grown terrorist, in American terms. He is a member of the first generation born toward the end of WWII, or immediately after, who had parents that dealt with WWII, were even probably involved. Alot of him problems, it comes out, are because he has had to deal with his parents' generation, who did nothing to stop the Nazis. But did he do too much to stop the government he thought was corrupt? He seems to defend his killing of innocent civilians, saying he was at war with the government and casualties are expected in war. But is that just an easy excuse for a terrorist? These are really complicated questions, and I think the author did a brilliant job dealing with them.
The only part I was confused about was the subplot with Jan and Ulla. It was never explained, but I assume these two - or at least Jan - was a fellow revolutionary. Apparently there are questions over his suicide: whether he really killed himself, or faked it (very elaborately) in order to escape and go out to terrorize more. I wish this would have been better explained.
A substory that also involved Jan was the story Ilse was writing. It was also kind of unclear to me how much of the story was true, but as far as I could tell, she was just writing was she thought could have happened, if Jan had indeed faked his death and escaped. At the end, we find Jan at the restaurant at the top of the WTC on 9/11. He has been tasked by a Lebanese man to take a bag up there and leave it. When the plane hits and Jan is still in the restaurant, he says something to the effect of, was there a radio in the bag to guide the plane to the building?
This REALLY confused me. Why would the plane need a radio to fly into a building? There was nothing else even remotely as tall as the WTC towers in Lower Manhattan. The terrorists couldn't have missed them if they'd tried. So what WAS in the bag? It strikes me as too coincidental - Jan had to be involved in the 9/11 attack, even if he didn't know it. As some have since speculated, did he carry a bomb in the bag? So that when they plane crashed the bomb also exploded, making in more likely to bring the tower down? That's what I'm going with. Nothing else made much sense to me.
The only part I was confused about was the subplot with Jan and Ulla. It was never explained, but I assume these two - or at least Jan - was a fellow revolutionary. Apparently there are questions over his suicide: whether he really killed himself, or faked it (very elaborately) in order to escape and go out to terrorize more. I wish this would have been better explained.
A substory that also involved Jan was the story Ilse was writing. It was also kind of unclear to me how much of the story was true, but as far as I could tell, she was just writing was she thought could have happened, if Jan had indeed faked his death and escaped. At the end, we find Jan at the restaurant at the top of the WTC on 9/11. He has been tasked by a Lebanese man to take a bag up there and leave it. When the plane hits and Jan is still in the restaurant, he says something to the effect of, was there a radio in the bag to guide the plane to the building?
This REALLY confused me. Why would the plane need a radio to fly into a building? There was nothing else even remotely as tall as the WTC towers in Lower Manhattan. The terrorists couldn't have missed them if they'd tried. So what WAS in the bag? It strikes me as too coincidental - Jan had to be involved in the 9/11 attack, even if he didn't know it. As some have since speculated, did he carry a bomb in the bag? So that when they plane crashed the bomb also exploded, making in more likely to bring the tower down? That's what I'm going with. Nothing else made much sense to me.