Switzerland does not use the euro as its currency. But Swiss money is pretty, and on the 200 Swiss franc note is a picture of the author C.F. Ramuz, so I picked up this book by him, translated into English.

When the Mountain Fell transported me to another Switzerland; not the one I know, where there are banks on every corner, shops selling watches for thousands of dollars, autoroutes where you can drive 120 kph, tunnels that take you under mountains, people from many nations living More...

A mountain and its collapse are at the dramatic center of this story, because they cause everything else that happens. But I was surprised by how Ramuz keeps the mountain at the narrative center, too: the major dramatic and emotional moments often happen away from the reader and up on the slopes, and are watched from distance or learned of second hand, like the mountain keeping the secrets of the story. In a story of a village and its inhabitants whose lives, histories, culture, and emotions are More...

Better than I thought it would be. Going to have to see what sorts of influence Swiss folklore had on this one...

This book has some powerful messages. It was an easy read and nice relief in my evening from work thoughts.

A portrait of C. F. (or C.-F., or C-F) Ramuz appears on the Swiss 200-franc note. I'm hoping for the day when writers start appearing in the off-center ovals of American money. The new face of the US$20: William H. Gass. Anyway, When the Mountain Fell is a great, quick read about a mountain falling on a village--shades of 9/11 plagiarism by anticipation--and the aftermath when one young woman believes that she's lost her husband. It's quietly strange, like a lot of midcentury Euro-experimental l More...