Reviews

Short Letter, Long Farewell by Peter Handke

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elsayles's review

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Longest 180 pages I've read - boring person and boring writing. Spent most of the time wondering he was able to make New York, Boston, Tucson, and Oregon so drab.

dukegregory's review

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3.0

So strange and surface-level yet sporadically intriguing and constantly perplexing. This is not America, but a literary amalgam of European perceptions of America, including some odd representations of black, Mexican, and Native Americans. Why is John Ford an actual character in the end? What is the Hitchcockian revenge plot that ends anticlimactically? The ending is linguistically insane, with Handke making a clear statement into an obfuscation of the nth degree the longer you stare at the page. Why does the narrator see his brother (who is named Gregor which feels like a personal attack) defecate? His world is consumed by media of all kinds, and the American landscape is the convergence of landscape and media at all times. It's intriguing but bemusing to the point that I'm beguiled while unable to utter any particularly cogent statements about this complete mess of a novel.

mick_travel's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

maetskenreads's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Welche Rolle spielt Literatur für den Mann? Welche Rolle spielen die Menschen, denen er begegnet für seinen Umgang mit der Angst vor sich selbst? Warum ist er so ängstlich? Warum will Judith ihn umbringen? Warum tut sie es doch nicht?