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Lädt ... Surveillancevon Jonathan Raban
Keine Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This is a dark tale of post 9/11 Seattle which I initially thought was dystopian but appears to be in the present with hopefully an exaggerated level of government surveillance. The book was entertaining but not great. The ending was abrupt and I was puzzled why the story just ended. Upon reflection , I can see why the author thought that certain issues had been resolved, but it certainly did not feel that way when I ran out of pages. Still, it is worth reading. Don't Waste Your Time: Recycled cardboard characters, a plot worthy of bad TV, and that's the good stuff. I don't begrudge this intelligent essayist and reporter a shot at some big bucks, but jeez Louise, a paperback orginal and a quick sale to Hollywood would do just fine. It seems that the abrubt ending bothered some readers and reviewers. Quite so if the question is plotting. Even skimming the last third of the book, I was delighted, but not surprised that it took an act of God to put reader and writer alike out of our collective misery.
The very relevance of “Surveillance” to the present moment, in a culture where nearly every surface is hyper-reflective, threatens to amplify the noise and weariness of the day and, paradoxically, actually drown the novel’s own relevance out. To his credit, Raban seems to understand the gamble and make the most of it, though not without an occasional misstep — most noticeably the tendency of characters to stagger beneath the metaphorical load. What the book offers in its auditing of the national dialogue contains no surprises. The talking heads talk. The characters also bloom into their bodies, lives and loves. The insufferable weather turns nostalgically clement. We look in the mirror — here we are — and look away, puzzled or embittered or cocksure. Prestigeträchtige Auswahlen
Lucy Bengstrom lives in Seattle with her 11-year-old daughter, Alida. When she is asked to write about August Vanagas, a reclusive international bestselling author, Lucy becomes intrigued by his story of an orphan adrift in Europe in the Second World War. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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But as I neared the end of the book I started to get concerned about how the author was going to end the story. I read a lot of science fiction and I've gotten good at predicting when a novel is the first part of a new series. Generally the plot has too many loose ends. Will Lucy finish (or even start) the article? Will Tad go crazy? Will Finn get arrested? Will Mr. Lee tear down the apartment building? And on and on.
One other reviewer thought the book was setting up for a sequel. My problem with a sequel was that this didn't seem like a story that needed a sequel to finish. And certainly not every loose end needs to be tied up. But the author chose an ending so jarring and so from-out-of-nowhere that he might just as well as have had Martians attack or the sun go nova.
I felt cheated. And there won't be a sequel. The ending made all the questions and loose ends irrelevant. ( )