A review by whogivesabook
Irretrievable by Theodor Fontane

3.0

Any book that name-drops Tycho Brahe is good by me.

I think that No Way Back was a better title for this one.

The novel is a typical one for its time. Similar in tone to Dostoyevsky. The heroine is believed to be based roughly on a real person whose demise Fontane heard about, and it deals delicately with topics that, at the time it was written, were close to being taboo, including adultery and suicide.

With a novel like this it is really important that you take it slowly and I've read this one over the course of about three weeks.

I picked it up at the library. I took it out. Read it a bit. Didn't like it. Took it back. Thought about it. Booked it out again. Then spent two weeks on it.

I can't say it was a pleasure to read. It really is slow. And dense. But it lingers with you.