Reviews

Panorama by Hans Günther Adler

amseckman's review

1.0

I only got through half of the book... slow read and nothing about the war to spark enough interest to finish.

pearloz's review

3.0

Pretty challenging novel to read for a couple of reasons. The first was the nearly stream-of-consciousness style. It was just page after page after page of run on sentences that digressed and deviated from the plot (as it were) and the narrative energy of the book I think suffered a great deal for it. Another issue I had was the detached narration. It was already in the third person but every event, great or small, benign or, literally, the holocaust, was blithely described with the same almost-audible monotone and clinical voice.

Rather than a plot proper, this was a series of chronological vignettes in the life of Josef. Starting as a mistreated child, then to an all-boys school, and on and on throughout his life, until we reach the labor camp to which he was assigned which was so dull its like it was removed from history. I started skimming this book at around page 300 which is not a good sign.

I have the other two books in the "series" but I don't know if I can put up with the voice for that long.