The fascinating alternate history presented is the setting of the novel, not the subject; what I found the most striking were the occasionally somewhat rambling passages about the authenticity of 'historical' objects and works of art, presented in the dialogues between the artists/salesmen and the Japanese government.

Of course, one cannot help but be intrigued by the glimpses offered of the historical events; difficult though it is to avoid spoilers, we are also given hints of a different future altogether - a future which is remarkably familiar.

Although the novel is definitely not subtle in making some of its observations, I did find it very thoughtful and well written. I just wish there was more of it!

Although I found the storyline and technologies in this universe quite imaginative, at some point about a third into the novel, I couldn't help but feel that the haphazardly constructed dialogue and cookie-cutter tough guy/girl characters severely reduced the pleasure I had reading it.

A few passages consisting of essentially objective descriptions of locations and creative technologies left me wanting more, but instead I ended up having to drag myself through the rather muddled and cliffhanger-ridden final two thirds. Some interesting thoughts about artificial intelligence, sadly few and far between. Still, I might end up reading some more novels by this guy.

Sadly, all those critics' experiences of a beautifully constructed novel of ideas were entirely lost on me, as I ended up having to force myself to read more of this middle-aged guy's miserable whining. Bellow might well have succeeded at jotting down a brilliant exploration of this fellow's mind - it's just a shame there wasn't much interesting to observe about Herzog's psyche in the first place. To summarize this novel, think the park bench scene in Sartre's Nausea, repeated across 350 pages, with the addition of occasional tales of Moses' depressing relationships.

I thought I'd try and get into science fiction, having read some Arthur C. Clarkes and Vonnegots when I was younger; I settled for Foundation as it seemed to be quite high on many recommendation lists.

Sadly, this novel left me quite disappointed; only two scenes really stood out, one of them being the description of the city-planet right at the beginning. The rest seemed to be rather dull fantasy-politics, which just so happened to be set in the future; the space and atomic weapons serving as little more than scenery or even wallpaper to the sleep-inducing proceedings.

Still, I won't give up on my foray (back) into science fiction.

Incredible little novel, which from an atheist's perspective appears to be a magical realist work without even trying. Apart from that, some fantastic insights are to be found here; one of which I am particularly fond is the one about knowledge being something that you can teach and communicate, but that cannot be said of true wisdom.

I didn't find it easy to "connect" with the setting and its characters, perhaps unsurprisingly as it could not be further from my own Western worldview. The third part seemed the most interesting to me, as things truly fell apart as the two worlds collided.

After the first few chapters I found this quite easy to read - not at all what I was expecting. I must agree with a previous reviewer who mentioned that whenever the narrative focuses on a character, a few words are given on the background of the character - very helpful indeed! Looking forward to reading the Odyssey.

Although I had some trouble keeping up the pace while reading through this novel, I feel that reading it was worth my while. Some of the aspects of European society represented by characters where not clear to me until pointed out by wikipedia (e.g. Naphta's radicalism), I could appreciate that the sanatorium is a kind of microcosm of ideas. I especially liked some of the longer philosophical reflections on time, and the chapter where our hero is caught up in a snowstorm. I should return to this novel at some point in the future, as the author himself apparently suggests.

I started reading this novel with the best intentions of paying attention and not losing track, but I caved in a few episodes into Part 3, at which point I increased the speed at which I turned the pages (and thus decreased my comprehension.) I can appreciate the many different voices speaking in this work, giving it a richness of colour not dissimilar to a good Rushdie novel; cultural and historical references are flung at the reader whenever a page is turned, all possibly worthy of looking into (being a mathematical physicist, I liked the accurate references to rocket engineering.) All in all, it seems I should return to this when I'm ready to invest the time and attention required.