<![CDATA[Europe Central]]>

false <![CDATA[Europe Central]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166501619m/12398.jpg

12398

In this magnificent work of fiction, William T. Vollmann turns his trenchant eye to the authoritarian cultures of Germany and the USSR in the twentieth century. Assembling a composite portrait of these two warring leviathans and the terrible age they defined, the narrative intertwines experiences both real and fictionala young German who joins the SS to expose its crimes, two generals who collaborate with the enemy for different reasons, the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich laboring under Stalinist oppression. Through these and other lives, Vollmann offers a daring and mesmerizing perspective on human actions during wartime.

941298

2005

Europe Central

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4 2 false false Sat Mar 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 04 21:55:53 -0800 2008 Wed May 07 16:48:15 -0700 2008
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I can’t give it a proper evaluation, because I didn’t read it fairly. I started it before Katrina. After Katrina took it from me, I bought it again and tried to continue, b...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Oct 11 00:39:09 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 11 00:41:03 -0700 2007
American critics may lambast the length and creative liberties of the book, but I consider these to be strengths.
The Boston Globe...more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jan 24 17:46:07 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 17:49:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Feb 26 05:46:10 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 05:55:46 -0800 2009 1 I th...more...]]> 0 1 false false Sat Aug 18 18:17:29 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 18 18:21:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 09:25:20 -0800 2008 Mon Jul 07 10:59:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 19:06:53 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 19:11:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:32:54 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:32:54 -0800 2009 Most critics praised Vollmann's twelfth novel, paying homage to his ambitious yet capable grasp of the pivotal political and moral issues of the 20th-century. They hail his dazzling prose, sure command of history, innovation, and copious research, and they proclaim that Europe Central is one of his ...

more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Mar 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 02 16:00:09 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 26 13:40:50 -0700 2009 Europe Central was, for me, a very slow burn. I spent the first two hundred pages of this sprawling, kaleidescopic epic on the emotional sidelines, wryly observant, interested but not overly engaged. Vollman's characters, I thought, were intriguing, but also annoying. His prose ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 03 15:29:07 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 15:34:59 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 04:22:10 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 19:20:38 -0700 2009 Europe Central since it won the National Book Award in 2005. Well worth my wait, Europe Central is a work of art as brutal and heavy...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 19 11:36:06 -0800 2009 Fri Oct 16 13:46:07 -0700 2009 Europe Central is at times a long, dark slog, but definitely worth the effort. His research into Nazi and Soviet history is impressive, particularly on musical topics -- don't miss the notes at the end. What other contemporary novel is likely to spend so much t...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 16 21:35:25 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 21:39:07 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 11 20:47:26 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 09 11:54:54 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Nov 26 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Jun 28 15:54:25 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 15:55:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 06 11:06:50 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 06 11:14:32 -0700 2008
Many of the speakers are less characters than merely voices, ghosts in the machine of Europe Central. T...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Dec 02 06:36:06 -0800 2007 Sun Jun 01 15:08:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Nov 05 17:59:19 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 05 18:21:16 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 07:28:47 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 16 08:32:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=12398