Sunday 29 January 2012

Austerlitz - W.G.Sebald

This one was a struggle. To be honest I always expected it would be, I don't really like the Author's style of writing. I started it nearly a fortnight ago and had visions of being able to say it was a lot easier read than I expected.
This is because the first hundred pages flew by, or if they didn't they did at least hold my captivation to an extent. I know that this is because I read them while on a train journey, it helps, it definately helps. I got home however and hit a standstill, I didn't even pick the book up for nearly a week, not a good move when you're doing a challenge which requires you to read. I read an entire book in the middle of it, and had to bribe myself through the final 150 pages using a third book.

I won't say the book was awful, it wasn't, parts of it were very easy to read, but I don't get on with Sebald's style. My biggest issue with this book was not the style or the content however. It was the fact that it was approximately 400 pages with no breaks. There wasn't a new paragraph, a new chapter or a page break in the entire thing. Maybe I wrong him. There may have been three. This made it incessantly hard to read, and when I put the book down it became very difficult to find my place, something I usually have no trouble with.

It was interesting and I did feel I learnt something. It just wasn't for me.

Rowen

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