Wes Allen’s Reviews > Witz > Status Update
Wes Allen
is on page 500 of 817
If you're curious about the "crown" on the cover, it's a closeup of tagin, which can be part of certain Hebrew letters.
— May 30, 2021 07:08PM
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Wes Allen
is on page 765 of 817
Approaching the end. The unveiling of The Tongue.
— Jun 19, 2021 04:27AM
Wes Allen
is on page 600 of 817
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.
— Jun 07, 2021 02:07PM
Wes Allen
is on page 300 of 817
So you don't make the same silly mistake I made, it's pronounced "Vitz."
— May 19, 2021 07:04PM
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rated it 3 stars
May 31, 2021 02:37AM
It's going well, but more slowly than I anticipated. Cohen's prose is unbelievably dense, and I catch my mind wandering sometimes—then I have to go back and reread. I just finished the bizarre portion on Ben's stay in the city of refuge and his "pardon" of all its inhabitants. Surreal!
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I wouldn't say I'm loving it, but it's good. Probably hovering somewhere around 3.5 stars for me.
Tobias wrote: "Wes wrote: "I wouldn't say I'm loving it, but it's good. Probably hovering somewhere around 3.5 stars for me."Believe you me, I know what you mean, that odd sort of middle sphere, one really does..."
I know just what you mean: I keep feeling that I'm not fully able to engage with the prose. Typically I blame myself when this happens, but here, simply by general consensus, I think it may be Cohen. Not to say that he isn't ridiculously talented as a writer, but 800+ pages of this can get tough. I can only digest 20 pages or so most days. Perhaps this is a book that would be better on a second read, but I'll probably never know.
The crown reminded me instantly of the “Credor” watch logo (a high end Seiko brand). It uses the “Yama”, which I understand is the Chinese and Japanese character for Mountain.
Interesting parallel, Andrew. I looked up the Credor logo and I can see why you'd be reminded of it. Are you planning to read Witz?
