trve_zach's review against another edition
With his characteristic lists, lack of paragraph breaks, and maddening repetition Bernhard is very much his comfortable self here. In The Lime Works, he invites you into the misanthropic and obsessive mind of the protagonist, Konrad, and does so in a way that’s both fun/funny and terrible. This funny/terrible balance is something that he is able to nail and one that is common amongst my favorite writers.
Want to read about Konrad’s hate for consumer culture and the way it dumbs down people, or about how he is a prophet and superlative artist for studying hearing, or about how he’s definitely not insane and definitely not using the outside world as an excuse for his own failings? It’s all there (and much, much more), and it’s all to be read and understood with the knowledge that this is a man who has blown his wife’s head off with a bolt-action riffle.
Time and again Konrad contradicts himself, often in the same sentence, and especially about anything having to do with the absolute or certainty or, you know, Truth. His desperate need to control his environment and the people around him (his wife) further drives how he tries to control the story of his life and its worth. This is smartly-yet-heavy-handedly contrasted by the structure of the narrative, being a series of secondhand accounts by Konrad’s various acquaintances, and this lets us play with broader ideas about how subject and object are constructed whether it be by a societal body at large or within one’s mind (this of course also leads into the raging debates of the day of what it means to separate the creator from the creation and what that means holistically, particularly when it’s so obviously someone in an unstable mental state deciding how the lines are drawn).
It’s an engaging dynamic, and it’s nice to ruminate on ideas framed in such a context. After all, framing ideas in new ways and allowing us the freedom to think about them again to possibly come to new conclusions/realizations is what good art is all about, and Bernard consistently delivers.
Want to read about Konrad’s hate for consumer culture and the way it dumbs down people, or about how he is a prophet and superlative artist for studying hearing, or about how he’s definitely not insane and definitely not using the outside world as an excuse for his own failings? It’s all there (and much, much more), and it’s all to be read and understood with the knowledge that this is a man who has blown his wife’s head off with a bolt-action riffle.
Time and again Konrad contradicts himself, often in the same sentence, and especially about anything having to do with the absolute or certainty or, you know, Truth. His desperate need to control his environment and the people around him (his wife) further drives how he tries to control the story of his life and its worth. This is smartly-yet-heavy-handedly contrasted by the structure of the narrative, being a series of secondhand accounts by Konrad’s various acquaintances, and this lets us play with broader ideas about how subject and object are constructed whether it be by a societal body at large or within one’s mind (this of course also leads into the raging debates of the day of what it means to separate the creator from the creation and what that means holistically, particularly when it’s so obviously someone in an unstable mental state deciding how the lines are drawn).
It’s an engaging dynamic, and it’s nice to ruminate on ideas framed in such a context. After all, framing ideas in new ways and allowing us the freedom to think about them again to possibly come to new conclusions/realizations is what good art is all about, and Bernard consistently delivers.
verw0rren's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
led's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
papasquish's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The book has an interesting premise, but it’s so fucking repetitive. I got so bored reading this book.
david_rhee's review against another edition
3.0
I'm continuing my 3-book sampling of Thomas Bernhard. Gargoyles got me curious, and The Lime Works was definitely interesting but at the same time bewildering. The whole novel is a recounting of the events leading up to Konrad's horrible murder of his invalid wife in a defunct lime production plant. All of it is related through the various vantage points of a life-insurance agent assigned to the case as well of other witnesses. The course of events undergoes further "refraction" because the narrators, if they can be called such and more importantly be trusted as such, are retelling the story as they have received it primarily from the words of Konrad. It's clear rather early that Konrad has several loose screws upstairs and this makes for a narrative which dribbles on in many parts like the incoherent rambling of a madman. He suffers from a demented form of Adlerian stage fright when it comes to his lifelong project, a treatise on the sense of hearing. He and his wife alternately play the part of each other's tormentor. It is a sick tale taking place in a bleak setting seen through a distorted lens. Bernhard is very good at piquing curiosity, but his style takes a lot of getting used to...for example, NO paragraph breaks! No, not one!
jacobbou's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
bryanmyoung's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely brilliant. Reminder to the unmarried: if you're considering getting married, read this book.
hollyevaallen's review against another edition
3.0
This book. Where to begin. First I’ll say that when I think of literature as an art form, I find this book extremely effective. If you look at any form of art (including literature) as aiming to make you feel or experience something then this really does it. The story revolves around an obsessive man named Konrad who lives in an old mine and wants to write a volume on hearing/the human ear but he can never seem to start writing. The book opens with locals in the neighborhood tavern chatting about how Konrad murdered his disabled wife. It’s a striking opening and the entire novel the reader will follow the jumbled thoughts of multiple people, interlaced fluidly, to find a motive to the murder. The aimless and bizarre style of writing makes the reader feel as though they are going insane (as Konrad is) so as art I find this novel wonderful. However, as just a “novel” it is difficult to push through. The writing style is so odd it becomes cumbersome and the constant repetition of obsessive sentences makes the reader dizzy. However, if you love a challenge or are interested in stream of consciousness pieces, I would still recommend it.