David’s Reviews > Witz: A Novel > Status Update

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.

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.