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A review by bastibe
Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
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.