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wilkerwyrm's review against another edition
4.0
This book really delves into a broken psyche. I understand the need for having no chapter breaks but I still don’t like it although this book is a quick enough read you could knock it out in one sitting. Watching the world close in on him through his own disjointed perspective was a journey for sure
ourkindofart's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
2kerrymehome's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
This is a story of a man named Bloch who stalks and murders a woman, then roams about aimlessly going mad. Bloch's descent into madness manifests as detail and sensory fixations and the derealization of words losing their meaning. The storytelling is concise, but so numb that everything is equally insignificant. This requires the reader to do all the work to find significance from one moment to another. The entire exercise left me feeling Bloch's story was pointless to tell; because even his experience of pointlessness was pointless.
Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to others, not even fans of the Stranger, I'm happy I've read it. The final scene watching the eponymous goalie will have me thinking for a while.
Although I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to others, not even fans of the Stranger, I'm happy I've read it. The final scene watching the eponymous goalie will have me thinking for a while.
dukegregory's review against another edition
1.0
Boring. Nothing happens. And I'm becoming tired of the murder of random women as a plot device (I say this as I read American Psycho concurrently) in all these novels by men when nothing actually comes of it. It's just murder without consequence, and, even though it only really takes up a paragraph of nondescription here except for Bloch's choking of his victim who I don't believe is ever named, it feels gratuitous in a novel in which absolutely nothing happens except for some word games.
blairmahoney's review against another edition
5.0
At times this felt irritating, with its obsessive flat narration of events, but the book grew on me more and more as it progressed over its very short length. Handke reads like a postmodern version of Hemingway and the novel has some echoes of Camus' The Stranger with its apparently senseless murder. It becomes really interesting as the protagonist, Bloch, starts to become more and more estranged from the world around him: he loses control over language, misinterprets gestures and can't count from the number one. At one point language breaks down into pictographic symbols and at various points the narration trails off into an ellipsis. For some reason it made me think a lot of Godard's À bout de souffle.
isela_b's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
dizcofriez's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
brunogcarr's review against another edition
2.0
Chato, desconexo, chato, repetitivo, chato. Safam-se as páginas finais e a metáfora do penalty. Não creio que seja por coisas do calibre deste livro que o autor chega ao Nobel, mas já não digo nada....