Status Updates From Witz

Reading this book is exhausting, I can only handle a few pages at a time before I become completely overwhelmed by the endless stream of words. Maybe at some point I'll be able to latch on to something resembling a plot to make the effort a bit less arduous.

I've pretty much completely lost the plot. Will keep chipping away, and hopefully I can get back on board.

This book is quite the slog, and I'm not really sure what's even happening, if anything.

Well, it took 175+ pages, but something finally happened!!

After the utterly incomprehensible opening, things settled down a bit, at least enough for some semblance of a plot to start emerging, even though it took another 100 pages to cover about 10 pages of content. 20 at a leisurely pace, or 40 with lots of digressions and meandering. The writing is exquisite, but a bit precious, and extremely fatiguing. This is a book to be savoured in sips, not plowed through in gulps.

Since I finished 1Q84 the other day, I figured I should tackle the next LDN (Long Difficult Novel) in the pile. At least Murakami uses simple language, whereas Cohen pummels his victims/readers with obscure vocabulary and general inscrutability. We'll see how far I make it.

Approaching the end. The unveiling of The Tongue.

Welcome to Polandland.

As others have noted, Witz contains some of the most poetic prose out there, but it's nonstop for 800 pages. Some of the writing is nonpareil, some a slog—a mixed bag.

If you're curious about the "crown" on the cover, it's a closeup of tagin, which can be part of certain Hebrew letters.

So you don't make the same silly mistake I made, it's pronounced "Vitz."

This second attempt is at a crawling pace. Much of it appears steeped in the Catskills, with an ominous whisper echoing from Wannsee.