It’s a book that doesn’t give it to you on a plate. In fact you may have to bring your own plate. It will however hold your hand. Feel the gaps. Breathe. Give it space. Be held. You will get out of it what it let’s you put in. Stunning book.
Kairos is not an easy read. If you aren't prepared to put work in, to attempt to understand, or at least accept, the metaphors, the allusions, to look up the cultural references, to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the writing then, yeah, you are going to have a tough time. The "love" story is not the point of the book. It's not even a realistic or believable affair, nor is it supposed to be. Why do you think we never see Ingrid or Ludwig's point of view or get to learn anything about them? Stop reading the book as though it were a romantic soap opera. It's not. The point is what the elements of the affair represent in terms of life in the GDR in the Cold War years (in terms of human qualities like trust, faith, submission, authority and so on), what unification meant to ordinary people; the novel is also a detailed examination of the inbalance of power between the East and the West, socialist and capitalist societies, men and women, the old and the young. If all you look at is "the story" then you'll definitely be dissatisfied. ---
@@thebobsphere7553 I wasn't trying to be disparaging or condescending. The "you" I used was supposed to be generic, rather than specific to your good self. I should have chosen the pronoun 'one', but that always sounds a bit pretentious. However I do apologise for being insulting. It wasn't my intention. As a pretty poor excuse, I'd just read a lot of one star reviews from Goodreads that totally missed the point of the novel and they had put me in a grouchy mood, before I came to RU-vid and read your video review. Why review the book as you did, as if it were a trite, poor, boring love story set in East Germany, rather than a novel about East Germany that utilises a purposely unrealistic and unsavoury intimate relationship between two people as a socio-political allegory?
@@dylanwolf Sorry for the delay :) - thanks for the clarification. Although not the most valid excuse but I try keep the videos as short as possible - I have a blog and there's a more concentrated effort there. Personally I understand the metaphors and hidden depths but reading about adultery, no matter how symbolic, is still painful for me to read.
5 star read for me. best of my Booker reading thus far. Also a big fan of Enlightenment and Stone Yard Devotional. Surprisingly (to myself), I also enjoyed James. DNFed This Strange Eventful History and Orbital. Currently reading The Safekeep.
I'm in the minority on this book. I did not care for it. I like Everett's ideas (this is true for all 3 books of his I have read), but I never like the execution of these ideas. I don't like his writing style and it is a struggle to finish them. I am sure it will make the shortlist.
Mice flight was cool. (Hated the mice in Stone yard devotional ! ) This book gave me a lovely thoughtful reading experience, but is it a novel or just thoughts and musings ?
I agree completely - a very thought provoking read and the fragility of life in the space station reflected the fragility of life on earth well. I guess readers who like a plot are never going to warm to it though.
Hi, I love this book and I read Huck Finn before it. I got bored with Huck Finn and my memories of it were more from my childhood and maybe an abridged version and TV adaptations. I loved the use of language in James and at the end the absence of a word was so dramatic for me. (Trying not to give spoilers). Definitely a reread in the future. I have read The Trees and have a few more by Percival Everett to read. Take care and enjoy your reading.
Great overview of one that is not among my favourites. From Europe i would suggest Lyacos' Poena Damni trilogy (Leaf by Leaf has a great video on it). Lyacos has also very interesting conversations on various subjects, his latest "Violence and its Other" in The Common is fascinating.
Pynchon is like existentialism; it's something you've heard about but know one really knows what it means. It seems important though. But looking at videos about him I can see that his stuff is really "deep" or profound like let's say Dostoyevsky, but are really just shaggy dog stories that may are may not be meaningful.
kind of makes sense but if you read all his books he's chronicling human history and their appetite for destruction. Entropy plays a huge part in his novels, so I wouldn't call them shaggy dog stories
My native language is Spanish and literally I was forced to switch halfway through the book to the English version to understand what I was reading. Argentine terminology reaches its peak, to the point that it seemed like a completely different dialect to me. Annie McDermott's task of translating the text into English was titanic. Added to this was the way of delimiting dialogues, the shifts between past, present, and future, the timeless episodes, the overlapping of stories, the non-delimitation of chapters. A challenge that at the end of the book would leave me wondering what the hell did I just read?
I went in for the 1919 Ukrainian historical fiction vibes and was quite satisfied. Wasn't as satisfied with the mystery element, but it kept my interest. Having cosy bits in the midst of a bloody revolution was different and fun too. I could have done without the magic ear, though. Neither Samson nor the author seemed to know what to do with it. I'd have been spying on people left and right or at least trying to. Still, I'm looking forward to the next volume.
Hello from Turkey Bob, thanks for your great review! Im reading this book now, so far its been a tiring but fun read for me. I read one chapter everyday, Yi Jino's story is interesting and captivating.
SOLD!🙋♀ I don't get the "it's a mystery novel, hence not a Booker book" comments. It's like there's an assumption that a whodunnit can only achieve so much, but there is such a thing as literary mysteries.
I've gone back and forth on whether to put this book on my wishlist, and you have convinced me to add it....manageable magical realism. I just found your channel and, so far, our tastes are similar. 😊
I didn't mind the book as I like to read about Berlin and this was a time of great change. The realpolitik of the comparisons in life between West and East were fascinating as well the pros and cons of before and after ie who wins out in the end. There was an ending to one chapter where my jaw dropped on the floor (the testing loyalties struggle session part). I suppose for what we learnt of Hans he had to have a strange mindset and psychology to do what he did - his authoritarianism and his ability to keep poker face. His establishment views, one may also say `elitist` (he was essentially at the foothills of the GDR elite) reflected his role both in and out of the relationship. The adultery reflects the two sides of his relationship with the state and his neighbours. For me though it was about 50 pages too long. I wish Christopher Isherwood were around at that time to write it.
Great video!!! Thank you. I couldn't agree more. Nobel price...? This literary award is so discredited, it lost respect and credibility long time ago (for me).
"all he would do is shake maracas... kind of that equivalent" 🤣 I know some people are put off by autofiction, but I don't mind it. I never know which bit is "auto" and which one is fiction, so in the end it's all fiction for all I know. I really liked this book. I liked her idea of telling something by recounting her experiences with four people that were significant in her life. Just like that :)
