Scan barcode
yogarshi's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely beautiful! Took me a while to get through this doorstopper, but the journey was worth it.
dida_birdie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
srbolton's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most comprehensively epic novels I have ever read. One staggers to appreciate what it took to weave together such an expansive historical narrative of war, politics, art, social mobilization, love, sex, betrayal, and the challenge of identity and self awareness under existential conditions.
ichirofakename's review against another edition
3.0
What a slog, I had to renew it 3 times. Stories of love and death and music. Loved it when I was younger. No longer recommended.
Too long, way too formless, too WWII, too much death camps.
Reaches a certain psychedelic dreaminess in chapters The Second Front and Operation Citadel.
Halfway through it catches fire, as the first person narrator/Vollmann enters the scene.
Grows into a lovely lyricism in the last few chapters.
Too long, way too formless, too WWII, too much death camps.
Reaches a certain psychedelic dreaminess in chapters The Second Front and Operation Citadel.
Halfway through it catches fire, as the first person narrator/Vollmann enters the scene.
Grows into a lovely lyricism in the last few chapters.
masonanddixon's review against another edition
5.0
4.8
Monster novels do not always get monster reviews. This was a tremendous novel whose themes stretched from Totalitarian Regimes,and the horrifying theatricality of war to the immortality of art. In that last regard Shostakovitch is the books primary hero. A man who may not have done everything he could to preserve his integrity -here represented symbolically by the ubiquitous Elena-he still none the less was a decent man who stood for humanitarian idealism -in direct opposition to his oft discussed cynicism- in indecent times. Women throughout this novel seem to serve as elusive signifiers of integrity. Vlasov's wife and Paulus' wives especially. They seem to act as anchors for men of action to attach themselves too. Vlasov and Paulus faced with choice-less choices were forced to abandon their wives and their integrity. This is just one theme though. The book covers dozens.
The Vlasov-Paulus stories ask us about the death of military honor. The Sleepwalker and The Palm Tree of Deborah talk about promises and their consequences. The first portraying Hitler as a man driven by promises to start a war and keep fighting. Maybe not the least didactic thing in the world, but the prose is good enough to keep you going. Postmodern in it's sprawl but honest in it's emotions Europe Central is a complex novel that asks us to consider if we would have forgot the Jews, purged the unloyal, and believe in the infallible organs of the state.
I must apologize for the rambling nature of my reviews. They are mostly written in the dead of night at a desk surrounded by notes, reference books, and me in pair of boxers that at this very moment are decidedly too little in the face of the coldness of my room. I wish the damn cat would get off the vent.
Monster novels do not always get monster reviews. This was a tremendous novel whose themes stretched from Totalitarian Regimes,and the horrifying theatricality of war to the immortality of art. In that last regard Shostakovitch is the books primary hero. A man who may not have done everything he could to preserve his integrity -here represented symbolically by the ubiquitous Elena-he still none the less was a decent man who stood for humanitarian idealism -in direct opposition to his oft discussed cynicism- in indecent times. Women throughout this novel seem to serve as elusive signifiers of integrity. Vlasov's wife and Paulus' wives especially. They seem to act as anchors for men of action to attach themselves too. Vlasov and Paulus faced with choice-less choices were forced to abandon their wives and their integrity. This is just one theme though. The book covers dozens.
The Vlasov-Paulus stories ask us about the death of military honor. The Sleepwalker and The Palm Tree of Deborah talk about promises and their consequences. The first portraying Hitler as a man driven by promises to start a war and keep fighting. Maybe not the least didactic thing in the world, but the prose is good enough to keep you going. Postmodern in it's sprawl but honest in it's emotions Europe Central is a complex novel that asks us to consider if we would have forgot the Jews, purged the unloyal, and believe in the infallible organs of the state.
I must apologize for the rambling nature of my reviews. They are mostly written in the dead of night at a desk surrounded by notes, reference books, and me in pair of boxers that at this very moment are decidedly too little in the face of the coldness of my room. I wish the damn cat would get off the vent.
robshpprd's review against another edition
2.0
I struggle to understand how so many people had such positive experiences with this novel. It's honestly one of the dullest things I've ever read.
To be sure, Vollmann has some elements of genius. The overall structure is very impressive. In the end, we do feel some tragedy in Shostakovich's story.
But overall, the whole thing feels aloof and cold. Vollmann understands his characters deeply but there's always a clinical distance between the narrator and our characters. Some of the most interesting passages are those that feel like autobiographical slips. We catch little glimpses of a man who has been divorced and is still raw from it.
The language is uneven at best. When describing music and sex, there are flashes of lyrical mastery, but for the most part Vollmann's prose alternates between barely-there and stilted and forced. He is obsessed with this notion of big overarching metaphors drawn between major themes of the novel. In a novel about music and war, nearly every instance of figurative language involves either music or war. This is cute at first but tedious after a few hundred pages.
To be sure, Vollmann has some elements of genius. The overall structure is very impressive. In the end, we do feel some tragedy in Shostakovich's story.
But overall, the whole thing feels aloof and cold. Vollmann understands his characters deeply but there's always a clinical distance between the narrator and our characters. Some of the most interesting passages are those that feel like autobiographical slips. We catch little glimpses of a man who has been divorced and is still raw from it.
The language is uneven at best. When describing music and sex, there are flashes of lyrical mastery, but for the most part Vollmann's prose alternates between barely-there and stilted and forced. He is obsessed with this notion of big overarching metaphors drawn between major themes of the novel. In a novel about music and war, nearly every instance of figurative language involves either music or war. This is cute at first but tedious after a few hundred pages.
jonbrammer's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the section about Gerstein, the conflicted supplier of gas to death camps was the best part. After were the tales of Paulus and Vlasov, the generals who were captured and switched allegiences. Unfortunately, Vollman spends more time on Shostakovich, the composer involved in a love triangle.
withonestone's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
megapolisomancy's review against another edition
4.0
A series of parables about life in the USSR and Germany in the middle of the century. Dmitri Shostakovich is kind of the main character, but not really, although like him all of the central characters are collaborators in one way or another.
Sometimes the narrators are explicitly Vollmann, sometimes they're anonymous agents in the intelligence agencies, sometimes they're omniscient, sometimes they're not.
He has some great stuff to say about the suffering of people trying to go against the tides of history, so to speak, and some of it is really touching and fascinating, but it's Vollmann, so it's way, way too long and has some creepy gender stuff at times-the women (except for the first two chapters, which I believe were the only ones to center on women) are all either fetishized sexual muses or angelic moral compasses.
Sometimes the narrators are explicitly Vollmann, sometimes they're anonymous agents in the intelligence agencies, sometimes they're omniscient, sometimes they're not.
He has some great stuff to say about the suffering of people trying to go against the tides of history, so to speak, and some of it is really touching and fascinating, but it's Vollmann, so it's way, way too long and has some creepy gender stuff at times-the women (except for the first two chapters, which I believe were the only ones to center on women) are all either fetishized sexual muses or angelic moral compasses.