Die Wand (The Wall) by Marlen Haushofer
A middle aged woman is staying at a holiday villa with
relations when one morning she wakes to find that her relations have not
returned from town and there is a mysterious invisible wall cutting her off
from the rest of the world. Her only companions are a few farm animals and the
book is a memoir of the first few years of isolation. We know she is writing
about the past and she writes with plenty of foreshadowing. This is a quiet,
understated little book that stays with you and makes you think. It isn’t an
action filled book and concentrates more on how she feels and how she copes
with isolation, feeding herself, keeping warm and looking after her animals. Her
constant references to what was going to happen meant that when it finally did
happen, and was very abrupt, you are left wanting more. I think this means that
the book will reward a re-read. Looking at the other reviews on LT I am
wondering about the expectations of the people who read it. This is
post-apocalyptic but not dystopic and definitely not an action story, however
it is a great read.
Overall – A quiet contemplative read, recommended
Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes
Average
I was aware of Capa before reading the book, but didn’t know
much about the story. The book starts in mid-30’s Paris when Endre Friedmann (Robert Capa) meets Gerta Pohorylle (Gerda Taro) and Gerta
agrees to be Friedmann’s manager. After a distasteful stint as photographer to
a German paper (both Friedmann and Pohorylle are Jews) in Spain Friedmann
returns to Paris and the two start an affair. When Gerta realizes that
Friedmann would have more luck as an “American” photographer they both change
their names. They then both go to cover the Spanish civil war where Taro, the
first woman war photojournalist, loses her life. Fortes states at the beginning
of the book that Spain owes Capa a book and this is it, originally written in
Spanish. I don’t know if it was the translation, or if the original book had
the same problem, but the writing is alternatively grandiose and banal, the
characters fail to come to life and I wasn’t overjoyed to find it was a
historical romance with many sex scenes. In the end this book just wasn’t for
me, there is a great story here, Capa’s life and Taro’s life are fascinating
and so is the historical period. Fortes sadly isn’t a good enough writer to
bring it alive though.
More info on Capa
here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa
and Taro here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Taro
which will tell you much more than reading this book
Overall –
disappointing and boring
Your reviews are very interesting and I like a lot your style ;) Reviewers like you help authors to improve their style!
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