A review by ronanmcd
Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim

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.