American War
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
Well, this was... underwhelming. Where do I start... As I didn't read the English original but listened to the German audiobook, I don't feel able to criticize the language as such. Criticism there might always be due to poor translation. What is definitely on the author himself, though, is the (lack of) character depth and development in basically all of the cardboard cut-outs populating this novel and the lack of both "innovation" and progress in the society he "builts". The more adequate word would be "pieces together from newspaper clippings and history books". His version of the near-future is a re-run of the American Civil War with some more recent types of war crimes and some climate change effects added for shock value. All these things remain sadly decorational, I felt. The author couldn't even be bothered to invent any technical progress, or any new political power dynamics in a way that contained more than making the US the receiving end of destabelization now. The characters, as mentioned before, felt extremely flat. The main character was one of the worst attempts at (I'm guessing here) hardened kick-ass female anti-hero that I've seen in some time. A clichee in any way possible - a slightly aggressive tomboy in behaviour, not attractive bordering on ugly and "unfeminine"/"manly" in looks, and, to complete clichee bingo, lesbian with extremely short hair. Still, she couldn't put two and two together but for the help of a manipulative older man who turned her into a tool. The reader gets to see her whole life as a chain of cause and effect, all outwardly induced. And I as a reader couldn't even be bothered to feel anything for her. I spent about fourteen hours listening to what should have been a devastating example of what war, loss, misinformation and general cruelty can do to a person - and it did nothing. I later read that the author is a political journalist and that this is his first novel. Well. That at least explains some of what felt off. You don't get character development and fictitious embellishment in reports (and really you shouldn't). But then, fictional texts can profit greatly from both while still offering relevant criticism on the real world. As novels tend to be longer than articles or arctile series in newspapers, you also don't have to be as direct and on the nose with what you want the reader to understand. Subtlety often does work better than patronizing readers of fiction opinionwise. Not all people can produce both kinds of texts, fictitious and "realistic", in the same quality, though. And had I not had this book as an audiobook, I wouldn't have finished it.
Beschreibung
Beiträge
Well, this was... underwhelming. Where do I start... As I didn't read the English original but listened to the German audiobook, I don't feel able to criticize the language as such. Criticism there might always be due to poor translation. What is definitely on the author himself, though, is the (lack of) character depth and development in basically all of the cardboard cut-outs populating this novel and the lack of both "innovation" and progress in the society he "builts". The more adequate word would be "pieces together from newspaper clippings and history books". His version of the near-future is a re-run of the American Civil War with some more recent types of war crimes and some climate change effects added for shock value. All these things remain sadly decorational, I felt. The author couldn't even be bothered to invent any technical progress, or any new political power dynamics in a way that contained more than making the US the receiving end of destabelization now. The characters, as mentioned before, felt extremely flat. The main character was one of the worst attempts at (I'm guessing here) hardened kick-ass female anti-hero that I've seen in some time. A clichee in any way possible - a slightly aggressive tomboy in behaviour, not attractive bordering on ugly and "unfeminine"/"manly" in looks, and, to complete clichee bingo, lesbian with extremely short hair. Still, she couldn't put two and two together but for the help of a manipulative older man who turned her into a tool. The reader gets to see her whole life as a chain of cause and effect, all outwardly induced. And I as a reader couldn't even be bothered to feel anything for her. I spent about fourteen hours listening to what should have been a devastating example of what war, loss, misinformation and general cruelty can do to a person - and it did nothing. I later read that the author is a political journalist and that this is his first novel. Well. That at least explains some of what felt off. You don't get character development and fictitious embellishment in reports (and really you shouldn't). But then, fictional texts can profit greatly from both while still offering relevant criticism on the real world. As novels tend to be longer than articles or arctile series in newspapers, you also don't have to be as direct and on the nose with what you want the reader to understand. Subtlety often does work better than patronizing readers of fiction opinionwise. Not all people can produce both kinds of texts, fictitious and "realistic", in the same quality, though. And had I not had this book as an audiobook, I wouldn't have finished it.