David Given Schwarm

This is a great book.

It was recommended to my by Barney who I do not think read it, but loved the depressing factual horror of some of the early sections.

I read it in the Kindle form on my iPhone. This was not the best first Kindle book choice, primarily because the book is so long and takes so long to read–but I did really enjoy having time to read it when the kids were asleep or I was laying on the couch.

The take away theme for me is Justification. The idea that all language is an act of justification–either to our selves or to others. Aue claims to be writing the book to explain things to himself early on, but I think that falls apart fairly quickly. It may be an attempt to tell himself a personal narrative that he can live with, but with the Hitler Nose bite, I think that the fiction of the story is larger than the fact.

Food, Zoos, Detectives, Abandoned houses, Music, Swimming are all major themes. Homosexuality, incest, rape are all routinely reviewed. Holocaust. Buracracy. All are blended in and very hard to deal with. Dream states–both alcohol induced, brain damage induced, rage induced, and just plan sleep induced are also used regularily in the book…References to other books–novels, philosophy, childrens books, manuals–all sorts of literature leaves a significant mark. The party scenes and descriptions are amazing–the copious constant drinking of Schnaps.

The kindly ones are hard to pin down–the two french police officers, his friend Thomas, and himself (and his twin sister [with the letters unsent]), would be my first guess. I also thought that the Third Reich itself is the Three Furies. But neither of these are female, which I think is a key component of the furies.

Excellent novel with a lot to think about.