sansibar

I did it! I finished the endless Sansibar oder der letzte Grund! This post proves that I really have been reading this book for almost four months. Eh.

I enjoyed it! It was really lovely and dark and poetic, plus I find it fasinating that this book is on almost every German teenager's reading list -- if you google the German title, you find a million study-help websites and essays written by pupils -- and yet, the English version is (in my completely unimportant and possibly wrong opinion) weirdly translated, and if you google the English title you find almost nothing. My favorite character was Gregor, the young communist director. I spent much time enjoying the description of the "bicycle clips" on his trousers and wondering what they were. I also liked a couple of lines at the very end of the book -- SPOILER ALERT -- right after Helander shoots the police. To paraphrase, something like "He didn't notice the fire burning inside him anymore. He stopped and felt alive."