berlin
Berlin, 1928, as the events leading to Hitler's rise unfold. an artist escaping the shadow of her father, a major in World War 1, haunted by the loss of her former lover, trying to regain her ability to draw; a journalist; a family split along ideological lines; a persecuted jewish boy, an old soldier filled with hatred, and many other characters...struggling to cope with the changes taking place.
jason lutes' Berlin: City of Stones is a comic, albeit an epic one, the first of a trilogy feeling the uncertainty, the chaos, the pulse of a city, a nation at the crossroads of history. the philosophical musings, the idiosyncratic rants, the pictures of daily life all bring 1920s Berlin to life.
i was at the library today when i chanced upon this book and devoured it straight away, not before finishing murakami's tony takitani in german first. i think this book is very significant because normally we look at history as history, without really looking at what ordinary people on the streets are doing or feeling. this book does that. and it really strikes me.
my favourite part is probably the journalist's musing that the history of mankind is like a river, while the pages are like stones randomly tossed into the river to see what would happen, sometimes forming a marsh, and that if the stones were to be carefully placed, the water flow could be altered. at the same time, he expressed his hope that while berlin was built on a marsh, the stones would be put carefully such that it would be built into a wonderful city.
i think this metaphor is very elegantly constructed.
tony takitani is a short story about solitude. i must admit that it doesn't really stand out. the characters just don't find their way into your heart as the ones in his other works. but it does impact you. it's disappointing by his standards.
jason lutes' Berlin: City of Stones is a comic, albeit an epic one, the first of a trilogy feeling the uncertainty, the chaos, the pulse of a city, a nation at the crossroads of history. the philosophical musings, the idiosyncratic rants, the pictures of daily life all bring 1920s Berlin to life.
i was at the library today when i chanced upon this book and devoured it straight away, not before finishing murakami's tony takitani in german first. i think this book is very significant because normally we look at history as history, without really looking at what ordinary people on the streets are doing or feeling. this book does that. and it really strikes me.
my favourite part is probably the journalist's musing that the history of mankind is like a river, while the pages are like stones randomly tossed into the river to see what would happen, sometimes forming a marsh, and that if the stones were to be carefully placed, the water flow could be altered. at the same time, he expressed his hope that while berlin was built on a marsh, the stones would be put carefully such that it would be built into a wonderful city.
i think this metaphor is very elegantly constructed.
tony takitani is a short story about solitude. i must admit that it doesn't really stand out. the characters just don't find their way into your heart as the ones in his other works. but it does impact you. it's disappointing by his standards.
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