-itsonlyzach: #notallnazis is my favorite judge comment so far.
judgement March 11 Elisabeth Donnelly All the Light We Cannot See v. Wittgenstein Jr
On the other side, Werner, a plucky German orphan (see? #notallnazis) lives a lonely life in the foster home with his sister Jutta. But he has one obsession that keeps him curious: the radio. ...
-Drew: So can we use this opportunity to talk about why we keep writing World War II novels? Why is it that that war, above any other, still retains such a mark on our collective consciousness?
I'll also admit that I just recently read Mother Night, which might be my favorite #notallnazis book, and Vonnegut just blows Doerr out of the water (as he admittedly does most other authors). It's just that that book, even though it was written 50+ years ago, still feels fresh and vibrant in a way that I don't think this book will seem 50+ years from now.
-Brandon Lueken: 2. This is the last romantic war we had. The last war of ideas that seems so clear cut: good vs. evil. As Redeployment illustrates, our conflicts ever since and especially these days are mired in doubt, horror, and questionable motives. It's easy to be romantic about WWII, it is difficult to be romantic about any other war since.
9 Reply
−Caroline Pruett Brandon Lueken 15 hours ago
This brings up the question of whether Werner's story was #notallnazis or whether it functions to unsettle us by making a connection between his experience and our current 'doubt, horror and questionable motives.' It's hard for me to see this as a 'romantuc' view of war unless you discount Werner's experiences.
-ekdumas: I think WW2 books keep getting written about because it is the war with the clearest demarcation line between good and evil. It's a war that basically got boiled down to a common enemy trying to wipe out populations of people and attempting world domination. If you think about it, the events of WW2 are like the best fiction book ever written. Since then, we've really only encountered wars with serious grey areas on who the bad guy actually is. In some ways I think we crave wars again where there was actually a common enemy. Nostalgic for Nazis?
-Drew: Also, "Nostalgic for Nazis" is the second best Nazi-related hashtag-sentiment to come out of this judgement today. Let's take a moment to recognize this bounty(?)
-ekdumas: the WW2 novel is so much easier to write! Obviously, distance is a huge factor. Most of the people who lived through that war are no longer with us. Second, we won! Can't really say that about any war since then. Do I think Americans are nostalgic for a time when we were generally winners and appreciated throughout the world as heroes? Yes!
But I too would like to see more books explore the grey area wars. I mean in many ways I think there are (Redeployment among them), but the theme isn't so much good versus evil but just the ugly and nastiness of war as it is now. But I don't think those books are as well received as something like ATLWCS which romanticizes a war that is equally as terrible as wars we have seen in our lifetime. I mean yes, critically well received but would more readers prefer to get their war books in the form of shooting terrible Nazis or in the form of troops getting blown up by road side bombs in Iraq?
-Don't forget the bygone contender HHhH, which turns the very idea of even partially fictionalizing war and good guys and villains on its head. Loved that book. <<
-ottopivnr: re bks re war..... . i am sure i will have ample opportunity later to explain why I hated Station Eleven so much for failing to live up to the expectations of a novel set up by a pandemic.
-kerry: I still don't think it [All th Light] achieved a great deal, that it said anything new about war generally, WW2 specifically, or anything else, really. That's a high bar. I also don't think it regurgitated well-known ideas in an original way. It was a very well-written book, but with flaws, including the cartoon villian. It was in the top half of my 2015 ToB reads, but I think others were more ambitious (Annihiliation) /mm/, others more original with respect to war (Redeployment), and others more accomplished in almost every way (Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay). }}} nicely said.// At this point, for me, there is Ferrante and everyone else.
//hm. d n take to Elegance Hedgehog so.
-Multiple Entendres: I was surprised at people saying the Bone Clocks was their least favorite in the tourney, and I was like "Really? with the Paying Guests in there?" // :)
_______________________________________________________________________ ^ 3/11
No comments:
Post a Comment