A review by cody240fc
Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas by

3.0

Kracht's 'Imperium' is an analysis of the corruptive tendencies of absolute power. Thematically, this is a strong novel (GR friend Meike does a nice deep dive on this in her review). I also enjoyed the ironic delivery. I give it a lower rating because I didn't enjoy reading about the central character. August Englehardt is a gross guy. I mean cringeworthy gross to the point of distraction. I realize that this was intended to illustrate the depth of the depravity, but the novel would have been better served if Kracht had touched on this more lightly, avoiding the scab and fingernail eating maybe. The chapters that didn't directly involve Englehardt were much better. I am interested in reading Kracht again, but this one was a low three stars for me.