There is a fascinating essay to be written here comparing this book with Uwe Johnson's "Anniversaries": two books that deal with monumental years, war, cultural revolution, but with both a narrative restraint, and the epistemological limitations of writing in the present. There is also a comparison with our own moment, witnessing monumental events, and being complicit in war, but also facing it with a type of emotionless matter-of-factness as we are powerless to stop it, acknowledging that rather than feeling responsible to make committed art, we just record our daily routine instead.