|
I'm reading the Woods translation. The first few chapters were awkward, especially that opening sentence! However, it doesn't take long to get into the flow of the story without too many more jarring descriptions.
I am up to Part 5 now so about 1/3 through. I agree with issybird and paola. My biggest complaint has got to be the heavy foreshadowing. He is constantly telling you what's going to happen next which takes the suspense out. It's quite direct and not even subtle.
When I first started reading, my impression was that it was like staging acts of a play especially with the detailed description of clothing, settings, characters, etc. One certainly does grow weary of so much detail about whiskers, teeth, hair, hands, faces, etc. On the other hand, I do enjoy details about the scenes as you feel like you could be right there with the characters, especially the beach scenes in Travemünde.
There is so much detail that I am keeping separate notes with this book which is not typical practice for me. Usually I just highlight and annotate within the book. I have focused on keeping a character map and a chronology of significant events. I am up to 5 pages so far! I keep wondering if most of these characters are going to show up in later scenes or could much of this information have been edited out without much detriment to the book. Why go through so much detail if it's not going to be part of the greater canvas?
|