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Laeb... The Glass Room (2010 väljaanne)autor Simon Mawer
Teose andmedThe Glass Room autor Simon Mawer
I was looking forward to this, as I like this author PLUS it's historical fiction! Although it was interesting to read a pre-WWI story about a different part of europe than the usual, i found this Mawer's weakest book in terms of emotional involvment with the characters. It seemed like a conscious decision of his to write in a cold, distant style--like the modernist house?--and although I read it fast, and, as I said, it was quite interesting, I never really felt much for the individuals characters. (  ) lxydis | May 11, 2013 |  I was curious about this novel because it was shortlisted a few years ago for the Man Booker. I enjoyed reading Simon Mawer's prose about the Glass Room and the construction of the Landauer's house; I felt it very much reflected the sleekness and modernism that the Landauers were searching for. On the other hand, my interest in the drama waned over the course of the novel. While Mawer's prose worked with the house, it didn't quite connect me with the plight of these characters. I felt like I was missing bits about Viktor and Liesel's relationship, of where things started going wrong, that it was hard for me to sympathise when events came to a head. By the end of the novel, I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to get out of the story. Overall, The Glass Room was an okay read for me. The backdrop about the coming of the Second World War, the disturbing effects it had on the country, the use of German and Czech words throughout the novel and the prose about the house and the Glass Room was interesting to read. However the human drama left me rather disconnected so it wasn’t as haunting as I thought it would’ve been. You could read my full review of the novel over at my blog: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/04/17/review-the-glass-room/ (  ) caffeinatedlife | Apr 26, 2013 | I worked on this book, so I am biased, but it is genuinely brilliant. It's the sexiest literary read of the year! (  ) KatieANYC | Apr 2, 2013 | WWII and beyond in Czecho through the story of a chrome and glass house. It is all there from the tension we feel because we know what is coming, and these people are, after all, building a glass house on a hillside. The architect drawings of the house that separate sections of the book are quite lovely, BTW. These are very rich, subdued, cultured people and the unexpected upshot of this is how their comparatively quiet flight (they leave at the right time) via Switzerland, France and to America, underscores to good effect the dark chaos around them. They never really lose their wealth or their lives. They lose some of each other. Mostly it's the house that bears the brunt as it goes from use to use. (  ) dmarsh451 | Mar 31, 2013 | I found this a very interesting, well-written book. It brought me in to the minds of people of the upper class dealing with World War II. There were coincidences that forced me to suspend belief, and they resulted in my rating it lower. Mawer even spoke of the coicidence of Kata ending up at his house, so I feel he may have wished for anther way to reunite Viktor and Kata also. (  ) suesbooks | Feb 14, 2013 | arvustused puuduvad | lisa arvustus
Kirjeldusi ei leitud. Honeymooners Viktor and Liesel Landauer are filled with the optimism and cultural vibrancy of central Europe of the 1920s when they meet modernist architect Rainer von Abt. He builds for them a home to embody their exuberant faith in the future, and the Landauer House becomes More... an instant masterpiece. Viktor and Liesel, a rich Jewish mogul married to a thoughtful, modern gentile, pour all of their hopes for their marriage and budding family into their stunning new home, filling it with children, friends, and a generation of artists and thinkers eager to abandon old-world European style in favor of the new and the avant-garde. But as life intervenes, their new home also brings out their most passionate desires and darkest secrets. As Viktor searches for a warmer, less challenging comfort in the arms of another woman, and Liesel turns to her wild, mischievous friend Hana for excitement, the marriage begins to show signs of strain. The radiant honesty and idealism of 1930 quickly evaporate beneath the storm clouds of World War II. As Nazi troops enter the country, the family must leave their old life behind and attempt to escape to America before Viktor's Jewish roots draw Nazi attention, and before the family itself dissolves. As the Landauers struggle for survival abroad, their home slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet possession and finally back to the Czechoslovak state, with new inhabitants always falling under the fervent and unrelenting influence of the Glass Room. Its crystalline perfection exerts a gravitational pull on those who know it, inspiring them, freeing them, calling them back, until the Landauers themselves are finally drawn home to where their story began.… (veel) (summary from another edition) |
 Google Books — Laeb...
Populaarsed esikaanedHinnangKeskmine: (3.92)
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