Reviews and Comments

it's a rather short novel about an retired professor of middle-east languages, who is convinced about being Abraham.

his niece, who is telling us the story, is fulfilling the professors last wish and publishes the autobiography of 'Abraham', at the same time trying to draw the connections between the real life and the imagined one.

it is a good thing, that at no time the lines between imagination and real life are getting blurred: we always know, here is no 'Abraham' reincarnated. instead we are following a retelling of the legends and biblical stories, interjected by the musings of the niece.

it is a subtle edifying read, i would say.

J'ai fini ma premier livre en français!

can't stand these hacked and splintered words in the burtons' translation give it a new try later maybe

never knew a hero like this: it's like watching one of the infamous outbursts of Klaus Kinski love it so far but may get tired of it

okay, it is rather a draft than a real novel: the 80ies setting is more proclaimed than it is shown, the characters were thrown at you and the plot is held together by rush conveniences. but it is such a fun text to read, the dialogues especially and despite the cracks and holes you feel on every page the energy and wit of the main character.

well… when you have to wait in an empty flat, you might read it in just 3 hours

devastating as I thought it would be. times in the european parliament and bureaucracy with a semi.professional politician and common sense. it throw's a light on the realities of democracy in our countries.

(still not convinced about the biographical touch in the beginning, although i can understand, why it is placed there)

ich habe mehrmals 'Das Hohe Haus' von Willemsen gehört, ein beobachtender blick auf ein jahr bundestag, der im laufe dieser zeit fühlbar immer enttäuschter auf das 'gebaren' der politiker reagiert. ich erinnere mich, das dem buch teilw. ein zu naiver blick auf politik vorgeworfen wurde und das man sich ihrer unschönen realitäten nuneinmal stellen müsse. nun hier gleich ein sehr leidenschaftlicher einstieg, der genau das verheißt.

some are dated, some are nice some are funny, some are weird read for yourself is my advice and the odd pictures are a completely other story

Eckstein-Diener, behind the penname Sir Galahad, gives you a survey of the knowledge about history and forms of matriarchic societies of her time (that is a about 1930 ). interesting points : the language or style of Oswald Spengler, omnipresent in the whole book. it's an interesting thought for a study to follow the roots and branches of this kind of speaking and hot headed discussing throughout humanities the chapter about the spartans is kind of funny in a lewd way. it's all '300' in a fanfiction, but pretending to be science.

but be warned, it has the careless racism of it's time and doesn't shy cruelty in the name of traditions, which you have just to understand properly.

what's this about 'b' and 'f'? why is it called 'elben' but usually we say in german 'elfen'? looked up in the grimm, only to be more astonished: yes, there is the entry 'elben', but all of grimm's examples read 'elfen'. Can someone throw some light on the matter?