Bought this book by German author Phillip Schönthaler (1976) last February in Switzerland, after already considering it while in Berlin the October before, on paper. The narrator (which is the author) explores various scientists around the development of rockets, atom bombs, and computing, and their connection to fiction writing. This was published in 2024, and it reminds me a lot of Benjamin Labatut‘s The MANIAC and When We Cease to Understand the World, from 2023, and 2020 respectively, which I read August last year. As a result I’m left wondering if I really enjoyed this or not, or that I was just reading the German language version of a familiar story. I also bought some of this author’s non-fiction to explore.
Tag: fiction
Vor aller Augen by Martina Clavadetscher
Vor aller Augen, before everyone’s eyes, this German language collection of chapters takes us through art history. For a series of famous paintings of women, each story gives voice to the women portrayed outside the artefact’s frame. Sound concept. Some of these vignettes felt contrived however, and some I would have loved to read several chapters more, or a full novel even, to see the story develop. Picked this 2022 book up in a Zurich bookshop in February, after reading the 2021 Die Erfindung des Ungehorsams last year. Clavadetscher (1979) is a Swiss playwright and author. Looking forward to reading more fiction by her.
Read in April 2025.
The Novices of Lerna by Ángel Bonomini
Picked up this novella, or more like a single short story, in the Steven Sterk bookstore in Utrecht. A 2024 English translation from the original 1972 in Spanish, by Argentinian author Ángel Bonomini (1929-1994).
Unambitious and detached legal scholar is invited to a Swiss university for a summer, along with 23 others that turn out to be full Doppelgängers. Enjoyable, quick read.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
I really enjoyed Normal People: A Novel. It resembles in tone and setting the diary notes from my own time at university. The choices contemplated but not made, and resulting potential regrets. The self-centered observation of the world around you, and how that can result in misinterpreting or over-interpreting the actions and intentions of those around you. Those aspects definitely resonate with my depressive last few years at university, and made me emphatise with both protagonists. Online reviews frequently mention how flat most characters in this book remain. It is a surprising critique I think as we experience the story through the eyes of both main characters, both as I said self-absorbed, self-loathing and constantly on the verge of depression. Through such eyes it is impossible to see others or your connection to others in full colour, rich in dimensions and in splendid detail. You only see it from your own narrowed down perspective, and only with regard to your internal deliberations and doubts. It made the book feel more authentic to me, not less.
The Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Mostly enjoyed Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy for its detailed narration of societal shifts pre WWI, the lead-up to the war and the war itself. A good way to get a feel for how it came about. Especially as WWI for me never got much attention as the Netherlands remained neutral during it (the big 1914-1918 story we were taught concerns the up to 1 million Belgian refugees, and the POWs fleeing across the border / being repatriated through the Netherlands during the flue pandemic)
Many characters are mere caricatures, and many dialogues meant to explain some strain of reasoning that influence how WW1 developed are rather simplistic.
Follett is one of those authors that has hit upon a well working template for his books, and then re-uses that time and again. Good amusement though.
Vaslav by Arthur Japin
Vaslav, a historic novel by Dutch author Arthur Japin, focuses on the fateful day famous ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky last danced and stopped speaking, just after World War I.
Only appeared in Dutch it seems.