Thanks for this, Peter! This sounds very 'Haasy' to me--similar to his playfully addressing the reader, as he often does in the Brenner series (" And whether you believe it or not. . .etc."). Playfulness is one reason I like Haas so much. I'd rather read something like this than some woe-filled family saga. The metaphor provided by the title Wackelkontakt is that flickering between light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, reality and fantasy. He's not only defined the divide, he's given us the fragility of our contact with either side. Even if the book has problems, I look forward to reading it, based on your assessment.
Thank you, Brooks. I think you will enjoy it--if nothing else, it is impressive to watch him pull off the intertwining-narratives trick. I think the "Wackelkontakt" metaphor also refers to those two stories: we are in one, then they come together and "connect" for a moment, then we veer off in the other until it re-connects again, and so on, off and on. But of course metaphors often have more than one meaning! If you read it, let me know what you think.
Thanks for this, Peter! This sounds very 'Haasy' to me--similar to his playfully addressing the reader, as he often does in the Brenner series (" And whether you believe it or not. . .etc."). Playfulness is one reason I like Haas so much. I'd rather read something like this than some woe-filled family saga. The metaphor provided by the title Wackelkontakt is that flickering between light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, reality and fantasy. He's not only defined the divide, he's given us the fragility of our contact with either side. Even if the book has problems, I look forward to reading it, based on your assessment.
Thank you, Brooks. I think you will enjoy it--if nothing else, it is impressive to watch him pull off the intertwining-narratives trick. I think the "Wackelkontakt" metaphor also refers to those two stories: we are in one, then they come together and "connect" for a moment, then we veer off in the other until it re-connects again, and so on, off and on. But of course metaphors often have more than one meaning! If you read it, let me know what you think.