isolated_matrix's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jwendorff's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
thisotherbookaccount's review against another edition
4.0
I am having a hard time figuring out if the events in Das Boot actually happened. If it did, then this is one of the most riveting war books that I have ever read. If it didn't, and that Buchheim made it all up "based on his personal experiences in the war", then this book should be critiqued on a different scale altogether -- but more on that later.
The first time I saw a submarine-based warfare on screen, it was 2000's U-571. It had a lot of big-name actors in it, such as Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Bill Paxton, and even Jon Bon Jovi has a role in it (he dies about 20 minutes in though). But nobody remembers it these days for whatever reason. I suppose it didn't exactly do well at the box office, or it didn't win a lot of awards, who knows? Movies are ignored for a dozen different reasons -- just ask Guillermo del Toro!
Anyhow, my first exposure to submarine-based warfare was super intense. I remember enjoying that movie immensely because of the edge-of-your-seat tension throughout the movie. Being in a submarine is, in itself, terrifying. Aside from the claustrophobia, you are sitting under a huge column of water that is more than happy to squash the tin can that you are in. Then there are the destroyers floating around above, trying to find you with sonar and blast you into itty-bitty pieces with depth charges. You can't even dive deeper into the ocean because the technicians told you that your submarine can only go as far as 300 feet, and anything more than that it out of coverage on the warranty card.
In short, submarine-warfare is arguably the scariest form of naval warfare out there, which makes for high intensity and drama.
Of course, at that time, I hadn't heard of Wolfgang Peterson's Das Boot. Forgive my ignorance, but I thought U-571 was the best thing ever. Even people who's seen Peterson's masterpiece, however, don't usually know that it was, in fact, adapted from a non-fiction book (or is it?) written in the 1970s.
Lothar-Gunther Buchheim wrote Das Boot based on his own experiences onboard a U-boat as a war correspondent. Stuffed into a metal cylinder for months with 50 other men is not exactly fun, but these men take their jobs very seriously -- and with pride. That's because submarines occupy a curious corner of naval warfare, and they consider it high honour to be part of this exclusive club -- despite the fact that, according to him, 3/4 of the submarines didn't make it out of World War II. That's a 75% kill rate every time you sail out of your port of call. Not exactly the kind of odds you want on your side, but these men do it anyway.
Perhaps it is the leadership of the Captain, whom the author refers to as "The Old Man". The Old Man is an enigmatic figure, in a way, who reveals little about his own past. Yet, being on his last patron, this is the kind of man you want at the helm of your ship. The Old Man handles almost every situation with calm, assertive leadership that exudes confidence. But there is another side of the Captain that the author and readers find fascinating.
And the action is, as you would expect, the kind that grabs hold of you by the throat. As the men are huddled in the ship beneath the raining depth charges, you are right there with them, smelling the water, urine and fear in the air. Every time a depth charge explodes, your heart skips right alongside the crew. Even with 300 pages left to go, you wonder if they are going to make it out alive. That is when you know that the book has your utmost attention.
Buchheim also employs the technique of expressing boredom by making the reader feel bored. Some may complain such as writing technique (I am sure there is some technical term out there), but I personally enjoy it. There is a long section of the book, for example, where the crew is stuck in the middle of a two-week-long storm. Aside from being completely shut in within the submarine, the crew has to deal with the boredom, the lack of food and, worst of all, the motion sickness. Buchheim details every second of those two weeks to make you feel like you are riding the waves together with everybody onboard. By the end of the two weeks, when the crew sees the sun for the very first time, you cannot help but feel a sigh of relief along with them.
Speaking of details, Buchheim held nothing back with the technical aspects of submarining. Now, I cannot say that I caught everything that he tried to explain. There are also many nautical/naval terms that he threw around without explanation. But if you are a fan of finding out how things work, Das Boot will let you know everything there is to know about U-boats -- how it floats, how it sinks, how many torpedoes it carries, how many diesel engines it has, where they store their torpedoes, etc. Having knowledge of these may help to explain certain parts of the book, such as when The Old Man is figuring out how to make a heavily damaged submarine float back to the surface of the Mediterranean (the most intense part of the book). However, it isn't entirely necessary, you will still enjoy it.
Now, the criticisms.
Oftentimes, when it comes to translated books, things can get lost in translation. And, since different publishers/editions have different translators sometimes, it is a real hit-or-miss situation with translations.
This book is no different. I'm not sure if it is Buccheim's own style of writing or the translation, but the writing seems very flat throughout the book. Many non-fiction works are like that, but that is mostly because the writers are writing from an objective point of view, like a reporter's narration of a situation. I love that tone when he is describing the everyday lives of the crew, because his attention to detail is almost unmatched (which makes sense, since he was there), but he applies the same matter-of-fact writing to action-based sequences. Even with the submarine sinking rapidly to the bottom of the ocean, the author seldom breaks out of the flatness. He does attempt to spice things up a bit by talking about his own life, such as when he was trapped in the submarine, he recounts his past lovers and escapades. It does bring the readers closer to the author's life, but this sudden change in tone is a little jarring to say the least.
That is the main reason why I knocked one star off the rating. The flatness of the writing can get at you sometimes, and it certainly did for me. Otherwise, if you can get by the writing style, this will be an immensely rewarding read for you. Not for the faint-hearted.
The first time I saw a submarine-based warfare on screen, it was 2000's U-571. It had a lot of big-name actors in it, such as Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Bill Paxton, and even Jon Bon Jovi has a role in it (he dies about 20 minutes in though). But nobody remembers it these days for whatever reason. I suppose it didn't exactly do well at the box office, or it didn't win a lot of awards, who knows? Movies are ignored for a dozen different reasons -- just ask Guillermo del Toro!
Anyhow, my first exposure to submarine-based warfare was super intense. I remember enjoying that movie immensely because of the edge-of-your-seat tension throughout the movie. Being in a submarine is, in itself, terrifying. Aside from the claustrophobia, you are sitting under a huge column of water that is more than happy to squash the tin can that you are in. Then there are the destroyers floating around above, trying to find you with sonar and blast you into itty-bitty pieces with depth charges. You can't even dive deeper into the ocean because the technicians told you that your submarine can only go as far as 300 feet, and anything more than that it out of coverage on the warranty card.
In short, submarine-warfare is arguably the scariest form of naval warfare out there, which makes for high intensity and drama.
Of course, at that time, I hadn't heard of Wolfgang Peterson's Das Boot. Forgive my ignorance, but I thought U-571 was the best thing ever. Even people who's seen Peterson's masterpiece, however, don't usually know that it was, in fact, adapted from a non-fiction book (or is it?) written in the 1970s.
Lothar-Gunther Buchheim wrote Das Boot based on his own experiences onboard a U-boat as a war correspondent. Stuffed into a metal cylinder for months with 50 other men is not exactly fun, but these men take their jobs very seriously -- and with pride. That's because submarines occupy a curious corner of naval warfare, and they consider it high honour to be part of this exclusive club -- despite the fact that, according to him, 3/4 of the submarines didn't make it out of World War II. That's a 75% kill rate every time you sail out of your port of call. Not exactly the kind of odds you want on your side, but these men do it anyway.
Perhaps it is the leadership of the Captain, whom the author refers to as "The Old Man". The Old Man is an enigmatic figure, in a way, who reveals little about his own past. Yet, being on his last patron, this is the kind of man you want at the helm of your ship. The Old Man handles almost every situation with calm, assertive leadership that exudes confidence. But there is another side of the Captain that the author and readers find fascinating.
And the action is, as you would expect, the kind that grabs hold of you by the throat. As the men are huddled in the ship beneath the raining depth charges, you are right there with them, smelling the water, urine and fear in the air. Every time a depth charge explodes, your heart skips right alongside the crew. Even with 300 pages left to go, you wonder if they are going to make it out alive. That is when you know that the book has your utmost attention.
Buchheim also employs the technique of expressing boredom by making the reader feel bored. Some may complain such as writing technique (I am sure there is some technical term out there), but I personally enjoy it. There is a long section of the book, for example, where the crew is stuck in the middle of a two-week-long storm. Aside from being completely shut in within the submarine, the crew has to deal with the boredom, the lack of food and, worst of all, the motion sickness. Buchheim details every second of those two weeks to make you feel like you are riding the waves together with everybody onboard. By the end of the two weeks, when the crew sees the sun for the very first time, you cannot help but feel a sigh of relief along with them.
Speaking of details, Buchheim held nothing back with the technical aspects of submarining. Now, I cannot say that I caught everything that he tried to explain. There are also many nautical/naval terms that he threw around without explanation. But if you are a fan of finding out how things work, Das Boot will let you know everything there is to know about U-boats -- how it floats, how it sinks, how many torpedoes it carries, how many diesel engines it has, where they store their torpedoes, etc. Having knowledge of these may help to explain certain parts of the book, such as when The Old Man is figuring out how to make a heavily damaged submarine float back to the surface of the Mediterranean (the most intense part of the book). However, it isn't entirely necessary, you will still enjoy it.
Now, the criticisms.
Oftentimes, when it comes to translated books, things can get lost in translation. And, since different publishers/editions have different translators sometimes, it is a real hit-or-miss situation with translations.
This book is no different. I'm not sure if it is Buccheim's own style of writing or the translation, but the writing seems very flat throughout the book. Many non-fiction works are like that, but that is mostly because the writers are writing from an objective point of view, like a reporter's narration of a situation. I love that tone when he is describing the everyday lives of the crew, because his attention to detail is almost unmatched (which makes sense, since he was there), but he applies the same matter-of-fact writing to action-based sequences. Even with the submarine sinking rapidly to the bottom of the ocean, the author seldom breaks out of the flatness. He does attempt to spice things up a bit by talking about his own life, such as when he was trapped in the submarine, he recounts his past lovers and escapades. It does bring the readers closer to the author's life, but this sudden change in tone is a little jarring to say the least.
That is the main reason why I knocked one star off the rating. The flatness of the writing can get at you sometimes, and it certainly did for me. Otherwise, if you can get by the writing style, this will be an immensely rewarding read for you. Not for the faint-hearted.
captain_trips's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
4.5/5 Thoroughly exhaustive, claustrophobic, and humanizing anti-war novel.
After watching the movie "Das Boot" first, I learned that it was based on novel and felt compelled to further immerse myself in this tense world. Much like the movie portrayed, being on a U-boat doesn't seem like a good time. At all. You begin to realized that rather than "on" the boat, you're "under" it all. Under the incompetent command of headquarters - under the eye's of the Tommies as they patrol the skies and seas- under a relentless storm - under the depths of the Atlantic - under pressure.
Watching the film first helped me visualize the look and operation of the boat. Of course, the book goes into much, much greater detail on the ins-and-outs. Sometimes a bit too much at the cost of pacing and plot momentum, but I didn't find it too distracting. I could have done with less flashbacks though. The author gives a good sense of just being "in it" all with the main character. It really does feel like an ordeal a lot of the times.
Part of me wishes that I would have gone into the book blind, not knowing the plot points since the film (the 3.5 hour director's cut) follows the book pretty closely. So it was interesting when I came across something in the book that was glossed over or cut from the movie. But certain scenes were done better in the film I felt.
There are some moments of levity amongst the crew and their day to day routine of running a ship, but it is not often.
Definitely not light reading, "Das Boot" is an interesting and sobering story from a particularly hellish circle of the war.
"Once again everything inside me begins to spin. I want to escape, smash out of the encircling jungle of pipes and machinery, flee the valves and apparatus that are no longer of any use. I suddenly feel a bitter cynicism. After all, this is exactly what you wanted. You were up to your neck in easy living. You wanted to try something heroic for a change. 'To stand for once before the ineluctable...' You got drunk on it all. '...where no mother cares for us, no woman crosses our path, where only reality reigns, grim in all its majesty...' Well, this is it, this is reality."
After watching the movie "Das Boot" first, I learned that it was based on novel and felt compelled to further immerse myself in this tense world. Much like the movie portrayed, being on a U-boat doesn't seem like a good time. At all. You begin to realized that rather than "on" the boat, you're "under" it all. Under the incompetent command of headquarters - under the eye's of the Tommies as they patrol the skies and seas- under a relentless storm - under the depths of the Atlantic - under pressure.
Watching the film first helped me visualize the look and operation of the boat. Of course, the book goes into much, much greater detail on the ins-and-outs. Sometimes a bit too much at the cost of pacing and plot momentum, but I didn't find it too distracting. I could have done with less flashbacks though. The author gives a good sense of just being "in it" all with the main character. It really does feel like an ordeal a lot of the times.
Part of me wishes that I would have gone into the book blind, not knowing the plot points since the film (the 3.5 hour director's cut) follows the book pretty closely. So it was interesting when I came across something in the book that was glossed over or cut from the movie. But certain scenes were done better in the film I felt.
There are some moments of levity amongst the crew and their day to day routine of running a ship, but it is not often.
Definitely not light reading, "Das Boot" is an interesting and sobering story from a particularly hellish circle of the war.
"Once again everything inside me begins to spin. I want to escape, smash out of the encircling jungle of pipes and machinery, flee the valves and apparatus that are no longer of any use. I suddenly feel a bitter cynicism. After all, this is exactly what you wanted. You were up to your neck in easy living. You wanted to try something heroic for a change. 'To stand for once before the ineluctable...' You got drunk on it all. '...where no mother cares for us, no woman crosses our path, where only reality reigns, grim in all its majesty...' Well, this is it, this is reality."
books_are_nice_and_enjoyable's review against another edition
dark
5.0
This book is definitely not for everybody. Many people die and much of what happens in this book is really sort of awful/terrible. The slow pace also means some people will find it boring, even though there's a lot of tension as well. In short: You need to be in the right frame of mind to feel that it's 'worth it' reading a book like this.
When I first started reading it, I wasn't in this frame of mind, and that meant that I eventually concluded I had to take a break from the book and then get back to it later. There was never any doubt I'd get back later, it's a brilliantly written book. But it's tough to read this one. It is well worth it, though.
If you've never seen the movie the book will probably hit you significantly harder than if you have read the book. But it hits you hard either way.
When I first started reading it, I wasn't in this frame of mind, and that meant that I eventually concluded I had to take a break from the book and then get back to it later. There was never any doubt I'd get back later, it's a brilliantly written book. But it's tough to read this one. It is well worth it, though.
If you've never seen the movie the book will probably hit you significantly harder than if you have read the book. But it hits you hard either way.
ronanmcd's review against another edition
There are reams of text. The words flow dense and thick and I find myself lost for long periods with little progress. And I love it. This is how the crew feels, the story is aimless, there is no target, no obvious goal. The author brings us to realise that this is how many of the crew, beneath the waterline and tethered to a station without access to the outside world felt. They had a job, just keep doing it, never mind bigger pictures or the external. This prise is like that.
How many descriptions can there be of colourless grey horizons, churning waves and seething wakes? Never enough it would seem...
And so it goes, through attacks doldroms and storms; calm and uproar, until its over and we ask what was it for.
And that's the point of the book. A labour to read. As it should be.
How many descriptions can there be of colourless grey horizons, churning waves and seething wakes? Never enough it would seem...
And so it goes, through attacks doldroms and storms; calm and uproar, until its over and we ask what was it for.
And that's the point of the book. A labour to read. As it should be.
paulataua's review against another edition
4.0
Submarine war novels are not usually my kind of thing and this one was possibly a couple of hundred pages too long, but ‘Das Boot’ was worth reading. It is always so easy to understand the horror of war on an intellectual level, but ‘Das Boot’ takes you further and engages you in the terror of war. You actually get to feel the claustrophobia, the desperation, and the feeling of helplessness under fire. I never watched the movie, but may do now.
bastibe's review against another edition
5.0
It is a long book, with long stretches where nothing is happening, interspersed with short sections of terror and action. This is by design. The book makes you feel the boredom of weeks and weeks out at sea when nothing is happening, but also the visceral horror of bring trapped in a metal tube at the bottom of the ocean.
This style of writing is a bit crude, but effective. A better author might have evoked the concepts of boredom and terror without actually being boring. But it works. It is only boring in places that are supposed to be boring, and vividly communicates the emotions of life in a U-boat.
In the end, I can hardly imagine a worse fate than having to live and work in a U-boat in WW2. And a book that manages to evoke this much dread, is a good one to me.
This style of writing is a bit crude, but effective. A better author might have evoked the concepts of boredom and terror without actually being boring. But it works. It is only boring in places that are supposed to be boring, and vividly communicates the emotions of life in a U-boat.
In the end, I can hardly imagine a worse fate than having to live and work in a U-boat in WW2. And a book that manages to evoke this much dread, is a good one to me.
mistrum_crowe's review against another edition
3.0
My main impression was one of admiration for the sheer detail and atmosphere that is created, especially since it really comes across as something that the author had direct experience of. My main issue with Das Boot is that it has a tendency to drag after a while, so you may need a large measure of patience in order to soldier through it. I'd definitely still recommend it if you are at all interested by military history.