Sand

I found this one difficult to connect to. There seem to be a number of disconnected stories with no logical link between them This made reading quite hard work. I also found some sections unnecessarily repetitive in a way that contributed nothing of literary value. I was expecting much more from this book, and am certain a lot of effort went it writing it, so I was disappointed. But maybe it's just not my kind of book. Others I know have enjoyed it as it was recommended to me.

Reading this book now.

It opens well, I'll give it that. The first two pages are intriguing and written in deft, evocative prose. After that you'd hope to be drawn into a story that will eventually bring us back to the mystery of the prologue. Instead we're introduced to a string of characters with no reason to care about them. The story keeps looking as though it's about to start, but one character after another is brought to the setting without any sign yet that they're going to be connected in a larger narrative. Could it be that what we have here are the notes for a novel rather than the story itself? Quite possibly, as the author doesn't let us get to know characters through scenes, his preferred technique being to use a scene simply to get the character on stage, and then proceed to tell us about them through the device of an omniscient but supremely indifferent narrator. The effect is like running through a précis of each character's CV - we're told what they did when they were eight, how they spent their college days, a few early jobs, and then we return to the actual scene simply to close that chapter and move on to someone else. The tone maintains a bargepole distance from the characters which is presumably meant to convey a sense of dry humour, but instead comes across as a stupid person's idea of how a clever person writes. I gave up after about a quarter of the book when it still showed little sign of coming together or even of mattering if it had.

Great book. His story 'Tschick' is a bit more rounded, but this one is a great read. It is a German version of 'Burn After Reading'.

I am not a good judge the book did not click with me

It’s a great book, real page turner with engaging characters, vivid scenes and a sense of adventure and danger. Fun and captivating

One of the best contemporary literary thrillers I've read in a long time. It demands close reading, since the clues are not spoonfed to you, but there's not a single lose thread here. All the questions are answered, even the stories of secondary characters are wrapped up. Lesser authors would have made four or five books out of this - there's so much imagination and humour and suspense, it leaves the competition behind. Highly recommended.

a most peculiar book! long-winded and difficult to make sense of what the author meant to say Amazing that this book was written by the man who wrote Tschick; which is delightful.I gave up halfway through.