Reviews and Comments

i just finished these 900 pages and here is the first impression: it is a really well written work of historical ficton, but... it combines thought provocing questions of state, religion, responsibility, but... from a modern view it falls every time on the wrong side.

the meaning of building up a true faithful and ever so benign monarch in Friedrich Wilhelm II collides with the events, which from time to time are barely held back from attacking this picture.

how to solve this? it's a weakness of the text that a great part of the pages are lamenting about the ill understood intentions of the king and talking about the pain this induces to him. but the reader seldom learns about this events, they're more often shadwos of the king's thoughts and feelings.

it is still an interesting read. the style is really fine and it's an accomplishment to write a gripping novel you want all the time to contradict.

it is an experiment, to read the last german epic poem about Jesus, written in the times of the 'kulturkampf'. and there are three volumes, if I can summon the strenght. (the famous Messiah of Klopstock was an utter bore to me)

cautious start of the reading. simply dislike the topic or rather trope of prussia. but it is an important novel and I'm beginning to see why.

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.

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.

a hard decision it is! i like the idea of a self-conscious ai, which finds it an easy thought, to lift the human race in order to sustain the own existence. and the master plan is along the well-discussed concepts of an informed market economy -- i don't like to say informed capitalism, there's already a weakness in claiming such a society would be still exploitative -- and a basic income. some might say, the mechanics of the changes are too plain described, it might be too easy a victory to be convincing. i would say, it's an utopian fiction and alright.

so what is not to like? Hannig insists to show dull personal in a painfully close up. there is a lot of drama and emotion, but it is not rooted or even connected to the mentioned ideas and developments around. You have to read a lot of stuff, which simply doesn't gratifies you. the best characters in my opinion are the ai itself and a sidekick loser.

there is an extra star earned by the surprising end.

(schön und ausführlich auf deutsch besprochen bei diesen beiden: sprawlradio.letscast.fm/)