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agathaw 's review for:
Time's Arrow
by Martin Amis
I find this book really hard to review because while it was a really illuminating way of showing the horrors of the holocaust and was incredibly well written I didn't necessarily enjoy it. I have given it 3* but the majority if books I have also given three stars I have enjoyed a lot more.
The book begins with the death of the main character Tod. T Friendly. His death alters times arrow and we then, along with his conscience which is within him but separate, travel back through his life. Everyone goes backwards and speaks backwards but luckily Amis alters that quickly so we can understand more. Written words however are read forwards and lead to some confusion as the conscience tries to understand what is happening. In this backwards journey Tod ends relationships at the start. Going to the toilet is not a fun activity as the waste from the toilet bowl re-enters him and when people come into the hospital he takes off the bandaging to open up the wound and stick a rusty nail in it. This is life in reverse and as a writing style the sheer novelty of it was interesting but then it began to drag somewhat in the first half and parts of it I had trouble following. But also as a book about a Nazi war criminal you constantly want to to get to the main bit so to speak. So after a few name and location changes we end up with the name Odilo Unverdorben at Auschwitz just as the Russians 'scurried eastward'. It should be mentioned here that the conscience has no understanding of History like the reader does so whilst we automatically go in with judgements about the horrors of Auschwitz the conscience goes in with no information other than the backwards life it has lived to this point. So when we learnt that Odilo 'personally removed the pellets of Zyklon B and entrusted them to a pharmacist in his white coat' we learn the level of his involvement in the mass murders but the conscience sees them being rescued which makes the whole thing much more darker and twisted. Amis also details bodies of the dead being resurrected with gas and where then given clothes and glasses etc
'to prevent needless suffering, the dental work was usually completed while the patients were not yet alive... most of the gold we used came directly from the Reichsbank. But every German present...gave willingly of his own store'. The whole second part of the book takes place in Auschwitz Odilo contains to heal jews and his relationships suffer as his partner cannot understand how he can do it. The level of discomfort the reader feels through this section is high, there are constantly this f********kkk moments (I cant think of a better word, reading this book did literally make me say f*** in a long drawn out fashion).
Whilst writing this review I realise that whilst this is not going to be a book I read again and again or one that anyone can snuggle down into. It is a book that is going to stick with me for a while and will keep me thinking about it. So maybe for the power of the book it deserves more than three stars.
The book begins with the death of the main character Tod. T Friendly. His death alters times arrow and we then, along with his conscience which is within him but separate, travel back through his life. Everyone goes backwards and speaks backwards but luckily Amis alters that quickly so we can understand more. Written words however are read forwards and lead to some confusion as the conscience tries to understand what is happening. In this backwards journey Tod ends relationships at the start. Going to the toilet is not a fun activity as the waste from the toilet bowl re-enters him and when people come into the hospital he takes off the bandaging to open up the wound and stick a rusty nail in it. This is life in reverse and as a writing style the sheer novelty of it was interesting but then it began to drag somewhat in the first half and parts of it I had trouble following. But also as a book about a Nazi war criminal you constantly want to to get to the main bit so to speak. So after a few name and location changes we end up with the name Odilo Unverdorben at Auschwitz just as the Russians 'scurried eastward'. It should be mentioned here that the conscience has no understanding of History like the reader does so whilst we automatically go in with judgements about the horrors of Auschwitz the conscience goes in with no information other than the backwards life it has lived to this point. So when we learnt that Odilo 'personally removed the pellets of Zyklon B and entrusted them to a pharmacist in his white coat' we learn the level of his involvement in the mass murders but the conscience sees them being rescued which makes the whole thing much more darker and twisted. Amis also details bodies of the dead being resurrected with gas and where then given clothes and glasses etc
'to prevent needless suffering, the dental work was usually completed while the patients were not yet alive... most of the gold we used came directly from the Reichsbank. But every German present...gave willingly of his own store'. The whole second part of the book takes place in Auschwitz Odilo contains to heal jews and his relationships suffer as his partner cannot understand how he can do it. The level of discomfort the reader feels through this section is high, there are constantly this f********kkk moments (I cant think of a better word, reading this book did literally make me say f*** in a long drawn out fashion).
Whilst writing this review I realise that whilst this is not going to be a book I read again and again or one that anyone can snuggle down into. It is a book that is going to stick with me for a while and will keep me thinking about it. So maybe for the power of the book it deserves more than three stars.