Airing Aphorisms: “Night Train to Lisbon” by Pascal Mercier
(Original Review, December 21st 2007)
NB: Read in German.
Not every difficult book is by definition a good one - not every challenge is worth taking.
A good writer can do both, like Ishiguro. Write a book for the mainstream readers, to pick them up where they stand and travel with them. Or write a book so obscure that only very few will even want to go on that journey, those books are often a sign of arrogance, often more a book for them than for readers. And then you have Eco, who could mix the two.
If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.
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