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The problem with this type of work is that the genre has been firmly established by Agatha Christie quite a while ago and the structure as such does not present many surprises. In consequence if someone wants to write an original and interesting thriller that author has to come up with something else that's original. Katrine Engberg does definitively not succeed. First she constantly introduces new characters to the point that from the get go the reader becomes quite confused as to who is who and the fact that I'm not Danish and the names of course are doesn't help. Second the characters have shallow personalities whose actions and reactions are stereotypical to the point of seeming to be copied from some high school manual. I could go on but I think that gives a good idea of the work. In my humble opinion don't waste your time.

Read it because it was in the air, although it's Ukraine in 2014. Interesting read but not earth shattering.

I have read many introductions to philosophers but this is in my opinion the best I've read. If you want to not only understand the remarkable philosophy of Schopenhauer but also avoid the obvious pitfalls of any even modestly complex system of thought, then read this book. But be warned, it's not easy reading and it's definitively not condensed (465 pages).

Adorno said (Sorry if I'm too lazy to fetch the exact quote) that all good music had to be listened to through gritted teeth.

What he meant by that is that all good music is the result of very exacting work and the result is that it challenges our understanding of the world as we had conceived of it to that moment.

I think this book proves this true. It was written through gritted teeth and needs to be read the same way.

No doubt the style is le Carré in his best days. English like no-one else can write it and it's rare pleasure to read. Maybe I'm wrong but I think I can see why he didn't publish it during his lifetime. As said style is all there but substance is almost absent.

Like an exercise in style just for the fun of it.

Very good novel, well written in the style of a thriller. Makes you realize that war is not only the death of millions but good business before, during and after.

The work is based on a true story, the incredible corruption in the business of reburying the dead soldiers, and a fictional one, the selling of never to be delivered memorials monuments.

@snowcrash@bookwyrm.social Yes the trilogy is definitively on my short term reading list. May I ask: have you read in in English? Curious as to what the result might look like. Probably should read a translation one of these days.

Well written, short, staccato sentences that keep the pace constantly moving towards another twist. Not a great work of art by satisfying read nevertheless.

So much to say about this book. First I have not read the English translation but personally I think this work is impossible to translate in any other language. The mastery of French as writing material the way a composer masters music, combined with the beauty of it's use in this novel and finally the many levels of meaning make translation an impossible task. This one of the very few works that have been matured during the whole of an author's life and the sheer mastery of the result is humbling. And for those men who still think that women are not equal to man I dare you to read and understand any book by Yourcenar and keep thinking and saying this. I've read Memoirs of Hadrian when I was relatively young and that book has had a very deep influence over my whole life.