keladry_lupin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
keladry_lupin) wrote2011-03-20 09:06 pm
keladry_lupin) wrote2011-03-20 09:06 pm
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The Wall
Tough stuff, but I really liked this one.
Any Robinson Crusoe-type book that's also post apocalyptic is not going to be sunshine and roses; I knew that going in. This is a fascinating read. It's one long stream of consciousness narrative. No chapters or section breaks. She just tells her story as if she was speaking it, and like many people (me included), she tells something when she thinks of it, even if it's something that hasn't happened yet or came earlier in the tale. You know what's coming, sometimes a hundred pages before it happens.
I can only say "she," because never tells us her name. The tale starts with her describing the cousin and cousin's husband who brought her to their hunting cabin in the Austrian mountains, and how she stayed behind when they went into the village for the evening. They never return, and she discovers a transparent wall through which she can see that every human and animal is frozen. Just stopped where they were. Realizing that she's alone except for a dog, a cow, and a cat, she begins to make a new life for them in the little world that's left. As plants overrun buildings, roads, and people outside, she farms the land, rations the supplies she finds, and takes care of the animals who take care of her.
I once read a quote that happy endings only happen in English novels. You certainly won't find one here, and the book ends only when she finishes writing her tale, though she knows it's more likely that the mice will eat the paper rather than another person finding and reading it. She's a tough and competent woman, and I know I wouldn't have lasted nearly as long in the same situation.
Verdict: At times tiring and saddening, it's also uplifting and genuine. I laughed and wept -- the latter more than the former. I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy. After I finished it today, I went online and found that this is the only book by Marlen Haushofer that's been translated into English ... bummer.
Next up: I started Barbara Hambly's Patriot Hearts this afternoon, and I'm not sure if I'll finish it, but I need to give it more of my time before I make up my mind. I have Robin Cook's Chromosome 6, Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, and Orson Scott Card's Enchantment in my queue. Among others.
Any Robinson Crusoe-type book that's also post apocalyptic is not going to be sunshine and roses; I knew that going in. This is a fascinating read. It's one long stream of consciousness narrative. No chapters or section breaks. She just tells her story as if she was speaking it, and like many people (me included), she tells something when she thinks of it, even if it's something that hasn't happened yet or came earlier in the tale. You know what's coming, sometimes a hundred pages before it happens.
I can only say "she," because never tells us her name. The tale starts with her describing the cousin and cousin's husband who brought her to their hunting cabin in the Austrian mountains, and how she stayed behind when they went into the village for the evening. They never return, and she discovers a transparent wall through which she can see that every human and animal is frozen. Just stopped where they were. Realizing that she's alone except for a dog, a cow, and a cat, she begins to make a new life for them in the little world that's left. As plants overrun buildings, roads, and people outside, she farms the land, rations the supplies she finds, and takes care of the animals who take care of her.
I once read a quote that happy endings only happen in English novels. You certainly won't find one here, and the book ends only when she finishes writing her tale, though she knows it's more likely that the mice will eat the paper rather than another person finding and reading it. She's a tough and competent woman, and I know I wouldn't have lasted nearly as long in the same situation.
Verdict: At times tiring and saddening, it's also uplifting and genuine. I laughed and wept -- the latter more than the former. I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy. After I finished it today, I went online and found that this is the only book by Marlen Haushofer that's been translated into English ... bummer.
Next up: I started Barbara Hambly's Patriot Hearts this afternoon, and I'm not sure if I'll finish it, but I need to give it more of my time before I make up my mind. I have Robin Cook's Chromosome 6, Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, and Orson Scott Card's Enchantment in my queue. Among others.