Sebald’s use of language and metaphor in Austerlitz is glorious, and although moved, the impact of the book was less than Rings of Saturn, which was overpowering: the hammer-blow that we seek from great writing. By the last thirty pages I wanted to leave Austerlitz. This takes nothing from the book, which I will reread at some point. I suspect that after Rings of Saturn and Vertigo, Austerlitz was too novelistic and I’ve come to expect different qualities from Sebald.
>I'm reading Austerlitz now and loving it so much I'm reading each sentence about three times, in order to slow down the inevitable progress to the end!
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>I MUST read some Sebald.My tbr stack is locked till the Nobel. But after I want to attack some onerous gaps in my imaginary "I should never admit to not having read______ " list… Which Sebald to start with?
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>unreal: I loved the first three-quarters but flagged a bit toward the end. I'm still not entirely sure why, so I will surely reread soon.Randy: Sebald is one of the authors on a list of six I would read endlessly if I had to read only six authors for the rest of my life. I started with Rings of Saturn, which was the perfect place for me to begin, as I fell in love with the book.
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