Review: ConcreteRedaktioneller Bericht - Kirkus ReviewsRudolf, 48, is seriously ill (sarcoidosis), financially independent, a would-be musicologist who has never finished much of what he's begun. He lives alone in his dead parents' house in the Austrian countryside, and is visited by his sister, a realtor in Vienna, on whom he blames his lethargy, his eternal block. He both loathes and needs her, as he does his medicines: it's her fault he can't get going with his book on Mendelssohn, Rudolf thinks. Or perhaps it's the fault of Vienna itself, with its ruined culture and vulgarity. . . or maybe the fault of his town of Peiskam. Then, hopelessly quagmired, Rudolf takes it into his mind to travel, to go to Palma in Mallorca, where he's gone before--even though he's been no more successful at getting anything done there. And, after much mental sparring with himself, he ultimately does go to Palma. But, once there, Rudolf is haunted by the memory of an acquaintance he'd made on his last visit: a pitiful young German widow who compelled him to listen to her tale of amazingly black misfortune--money woes, her husband's accidental death from a too-low balcony at their Palma hotel, the problems involved in getting him decently buried. Bernhard (Correction) places this widow's tale--a piece of genuinely piteous horror--in the last few pages of Rudolf's single-paragraph, book-long, churningly indriven whine. By contrast, then, Rudolf's tiresome complaint (with its echoes of similarly paralyzed characters in Beckett, Kafka, and Svevo) is made to seem even more flimsy, self-indulgent, pretentious. Can Bernhard have desired this effect? Perhaps. But the result is a novel that reads like an annoying exercise, with ever less emotional impact than the half-alluring Correction (1979). NutzerrezensionenReview: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Timmy - GoodreadsComing on the heels of Ladislav Klima, Mr. Bernhard feels quite Avon. Oh, no, I can relate. Those despicable tourist invaders, that disgusting Catholic Church, doggie-owners who couldn't read a book ... Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Kobe Bryant - GoodreadsWhat was this book about? I couldn't tell you. Is it any good? It's alright Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Deanne - GoodreadsRudolph has always wanted to write a book, and for twenty years in different countries he's attempted to start. His health is failing due to a chronic condition, and he decides to travel to Parma. It is in Parma that he hears the story of Anna, and it is this novel which Rudolph writes instead. Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Matt Miller - GoodreadsSlow to start and a little overly existential, but by the end this book really sticks with you. Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Tina - GoodreadsAll in all, this is a strange book. I really enjoy books that toy with form, and Bernhard definitely does that in Concrete. For one, the entire novel is one paragraph. Yes, one. There are no "passages ... Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Emmett - GoodreadsThis is, by far, the most accessible book Bernhard wrote, and, to be honest, it suffers because of this. Although many of the individual jokes are punchy and funny, the book feels like a light parody ... Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Ben Loory - Goodreadsit's a lot like beckett but not as imaginative or abstract. the rants are fun but i want it to go somewhere. then it finally goes somewhere and it gets pretty good! but it never affected me ... Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - Janice - GoodreadsInitially, I rated this as “five stars,” but have since demoted it to four, because my knee-jerk reaction was that I should have loved it, and that I would have loved it. This seems to be a classic ... Vollständige Rezension lesen Review: ConcreteNutzerbericht - John steppling - GoodreadsIt's hard to pick out one of Bernhard's novels -- for all of them are equally remarkable. All of them are also the same novel, and in Bernhard's case that's not a bad thing. A giant....and for no good reason, this is my favorite. Vollständige Rezension lesen | Bewertungen von Nutzern| 5 Sterne | | | 4 Sterne | | | 3 Sterne | | | 2 Sterne | | | 1 Stern | |
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