A review by kinddog2073
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Picked up from staff recs table at Paperback.

Great psychological arc. Enjoyed very much. Didn't anticipate how much of a suspense the narrative would be.

You know the death of the dog almost from the start and the death of Bull from the moment he is born. I did not at all anticipate it happening in the final few pages of the book.

That in itself is a cool way to sustain the simple narrative arc of the book while forcing you to understand and grapple with the inbetween of these events, which is what the narrator is writing for herself about. Her transformation.

So many similarities in subject and form with Annihilation. I haven't found VanderMeer talking about this directly, but there's an undeniable lineage here and having enjoyed Annihilation (both as book and film) so much, this was a treat to read. Especially because it's less of the Lynchian "weird", in fact almost not at all, that is my biggest hang up with the Area X trilogy as a whole.

Anyway, loved this and recommended it to my mom.