#bookstodon

[English below] Das ist so: Ich lese wirklich nicht nur Belletristik und will nicht immer nur hochtrabend über Literatur sprechen. Und vor allen Dingen unterstütze ich gerne kleine Indie-Verlage, wir können uns glücklich schätzen, in Deutschland noch einige zu haben. Dementsprechend auch grundsätzlich all meinen blauglitzernden Support für den Querverlag! Aber. Nicht das, nicht „Einmal noch“, für mich zumindest nicht (das mag ich betonen, it‘s me. Gebt ihr dem Buch bitte selbst eine Chance, es hat allgemein sehr gute Bewertungen! Meine schwankt zwischen 2,5 und 3.) - Hier wurde mit dem Anspruch geschrieben, keine platte Schmonzette, keine platte Schicksalslitanei zu schreiben. Deep soll es sein: Der Background und das zu tragende Päckchen der Figuren. Ihre Dialoge. Ihre Verantwortung füreinander. Bleibt aber eher gewollt und konstruiert, ziemlich steif und sehr frontal auserzählt und manche Fäden gehen dann doch auch verloren. - Dabei kommt all das ungefiltert; manches hätte auch eine CN verdient. Zum Beispiel gibt es: Suizidale Gedanken, starke Trauer und Trauma, häusliche Gewalt, NS-Zeit und Antisemitismus, lebensbedrohliche Krankheit, Unfallschilderung, Verstoßen werden wegen Schwul sein, Übergeben. (Und fatshaming. Das scheint aber im Autor drin zu sein und ist nicht geplottet.) Trotz allem geht es dabei um sehrsehr privilegierte Figuren. Ich konnte die Figuren nie ganz >>fühlen<<, sie bleiben im Roman immer ganz Träger*innen ihres Schicksals. Na ja und der Schluss … - Die sehr gekünstelten Dialoge haben mich wirklich jeden Nerv gekostet, I‘m sorry to say. Allein, das j e d e r Sprechakt den Vornamen der angesprochenen Person enthält. Argh! I can‘t! - Ach, naja und ich muss gestehen. Ich lese gerne schwule Sexszenen. Schade, dass die ausgespart wurden : ) Nichtsdestotrotz: Dies war mein Abend Buch vor dem Einschlafen und ich habe es dann doch noch gespannt aufgeschlagen, um zu erfahren wo Umberto - Daniele - Debora - Umberto - Debora - Daniele - Umberto mit ihren namensreichen Dialogen enden werden.

[English very well translated by AI] It's not you, dear book, it's me. We just aren’t meant for each other. Here’s the thing: I don’t exclusively read literary fiction, nor do I always want to discuss books in an overly highbrow way. And most importantly, I love supporting small indie publishers—we’re lucky to still have quite a few in Germany. So, of course, all my sparkly blue support goes to Querverlag! But. Not this one, not Einmal noch—at least not for me (and I want to emphasize that: it’s me. Please give this book a chance yourselves; it has received very positive reviews overall!). • This was written with the clear ambition not to be a shallow romance or a mere litany of tragedies. It aims to be deep: the background, the characters’ backstories, their dialogues, their responsibilities toward one another. But it feels more forced and constructed—quite stiff, very on-the-nose in its storytelling, and some narrative threads ultimately get lost. • Everything is presented unfiltered; some parts would have warranted a content note. For example, the book contains: suicidal thoughts, intense grief and trauma, domestic violence, the Nazi era and antisemitism, life-threatening illness, an accident description, being disowned for being gay, vomiting. (And fat-shaming. But that seems to come from the author rather than being an intentional plot point.) Despite all this, the characters remain very privileged. I never truly felt them; they always stayed mere carriers of their fates. And then the ending… well. • The highly artificial dialogues drove me up the wall, I’m sorry to say. Especially the fact that every single section of dialogue includes the other person’s first name oder and over again. Argh! I can’t! • Oh, and I must admit—I enjoy reading gay sex scenes. Shame they were left out. : ) That said: This was my bedtime book, and I still picked it up eagerly each night to find out where Umberto – Daniele – Debora – Umberto – Debora – Daniele – Umberto and their name-heavy dialogues would lead in the end.

#bookstodon @lesekreis@a.gup.pe

In the prologue Larson explains that he was inspired to tell this story by the events of Jan 6th as a way to compare the current election certification crisis with the last time it happened in order to show the mood of the country and the factors that lead to its happening. After completing the story I feel like he largely succeeded. Through his usual brand of narrative history telling he focuses in on a few points that illustrate how the different sections of the nation were thinking and the divide between them. While I feel like the telling of the southern viewpoint is well told, I think it is pretty far from today’s political climate. I find it more akin to the current denialism of climate change and vaccinations. In both cases you have an opposition that has convinced itself of viewpoint that is vulnerable to rational arguments using facts and has built itself a defense built on narrative story telling and identity-based cultural elements. I found his recounting of the Chivalry and the southern honor culture well done in this regard. Overall I really liked this book and feel Larson has earned another feather in his cap with this one on narrative history telling.

#Bookstodon

This books is amazing in many ways but is hard to compare to other more conventional stories and novels. It has a unique narrative structure and a radically chaotic use of language. I have to say I was skeptical at first and nearly gave up on this at several points, but it drew me in and by the end I was in love with its weird, quirky natures. The story itself is disjointed and a bit uninteresting when distilled from the way it is told and language used to tell it. That said it draws you in and is strong enough to hold up the novel through what is a marathon length telling. A lot of what happens in the book seems to be in service of some other purpose than serving to move the story along. It seems to be making points about society, human nature, morality and humanity in an almost back handed way that seems like an afterthought at first, but as this pattern becomes more and more common, it becomes apparent that these statements are more the point than the telling of the actual story. I loved this book and do not regret the 60 hours I put into listening to it.

#Bookwyrm #bookstodon