Back to good old socialilst / former socialist countries. Herta Muller won the prize in 2009, just last year, she was born in Romania and now lives in London, in case anybody wants to meet her in person.
This book is odd. It’s the first book I’ve ever read in which not a single question is ended with a question mark. It gives everything a sense of dejection, very much in tune with the book itself. An example: “And what about the ring.” Instead of: “And what about the ring?” The question mark makes you think the person is engaged, really wants to know the answer, while the question without it makes you think the person doesn’t care anymore, the question is an after-thought, a non-issue. Well, it’s not fortuitous, the entire book is like that, it shows you life from the perspective of somebody that doesn’t really care, that used to care, but not anymore. The death of her closest friends, the political intrigues of the socialist regime, endless interrogations (she’s suspected as a spy) and an alcoholic life-partner have sucked the joy away from her life.
This book is like an abstract painting. If you like them you would like this book. It’s really not my favorite, but I do recommend it.
Off to England and one of the men I admire the most: Sir Winston Churchill. Yes, he won the Nobel prize, too, but one that actually counts!
A New Era for Shameless Popery
1 year ago
i read a couple of Sir Winston Spencer books. it s rather a political chronique, or ideological memoires. there are some emoving chapters, mostly when he accounts for all the isolation he experienced when cornered in his island by Germans. He's ok. If Al Gore won a peace NP, then Churchill deserves a litterature laureate at least!
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