The Tower: Tales from a Lost Country

Was für ein überragendes Buch, locker eines der besten, die ich je gelesen habe. Wie der Autor die Szenen und Figuren zum Leben erweckt, Stimmungen einfängt, die gesellschaftliche Großwetterlage beschreibt, ist einfach überragend.

Im Mittelpunkt stehen die Familie Rohde und Hoffmann, die zum bürgerlichen Rest der DDR gehören. Wer verstehen möchte, wie dieses Milieu in der DDR lebte, wie die DDR auch mit ihren (vermeintlichen oder tatsächlichen) Gegner*innen umging, wird kaum ein besseres Buch finden können, als dieses. Weltliteratur.

DNF.

The Tower / Der Turm has been praised as a masterpiece of describing life in East Germany in the 1980s, the struggle of people against a doomed regime based on secrets and lies.

And, yet, I'm throwing in the towel.

I just can't get past the ridiculous writing style and the overblown descriptions in this book.
Obviously, I am not going to comment on the plot, the characters, or the historical accuracy as I haven't finished the book. What I will say, tho, is that 200 pages in neither plot, characters or setting managed to capture me or made me want to suffer through another 800 pages of writing that was nearly as spurious, convoluted and self-congratulatory as that of my recent encounter with Elizabeth Bowen - and that is saying show more something. show less

Wunderbare Sprache, aber langweilige Erzählung

As I told in my tag.
you really feel the leadden pressure of the late DDR.
These years where you could'nt speak up, the suspicion, someone might tell you want to leave the country even your close family.
The problems to get the mere minimum to eat and live

Incredible novel about the DDR, wonderfully written.

Audio book. Not my cup of tea.

This book isn't for me it seems. I tried to hold on but on page 232 I gave up. All colours are there to make an interesting story. But to me it is like Tellkamp is describing his ingredients to much on the surface. He says this, she says that, this is how it looks, this is what happens, these are facts from the DDR, there is young love, there is love outside the marriage, there are in betweens written in another style... but I can't find the deep flow that makes me want to read on. Maybe it is also because the unspoken in a book is as important as what the reader is being told directly. Like the importance of silences in a piece of music. It has been constructed more by the head than by the soul, maybe. It's a shame for all the work the show more writer has put into it. show less