The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg

Rating:
Summary: the very rich hours of count von stauffenberg
Review: Having read both this book(several times) and Hoffman's definitive biography, I believe that full appreciation of the novel requires considerable factual background of the type provided by Hoffman. That said, though spectacularly difficult to read owing to the horrors of Nazism explored in brilliant imagery, as well as to just the pyrotechnics of the language, the book is ultimately extraordinarily moving. Stauffenberg is presented as a man as self-doubting as Hamlet in his way. At the end, though, willing to risk everything for his beliefs. The last paragraph of the book is unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Damning with faint praise...
Review: To say that the most intriguing aspect of Paul West's novels are the titles might be damning with faint praise. But the titles are great - "Bela Lugosi's White Christmas", "Lord Byron's Doctor", and, of course, "The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg". These all do what a title ought - tease you into interest. What about Lord Byron's doctor? And why the doctor and not Lord Byron? I think of Bing and white, not Bela and white.

Knowing that Von Stauffenberg was the man who carried the bomb into the meeting to try to assassinate Adolf Hitler, I was drawn to this book by the title. So it was not only the title, but also the subject matter. West chooses interesting subjects. The bomb plot to kill Hitler, the Jack the Ripper murders, Lord Byron (who, according to Caroline Lamb, was mad, bad and dangerous to know).

So, drawn by the subject matter, intrigued by the title (what was it that made Von Stauffenberg's hours rich?), I picked up the book. LOVED the cover.

I find it hard to describe Paul West's style. The closest I can come is to say it is a densely written book. There are a lot of words, and not all the words carry one forward into the tale. Indeed, in some instances one feels like one has stepped into a small eddy of words and only after whirlling about a bit does one spin out of the eddy and move on to the next. When not half way through the book I recognized we were coming upon the moment of Von Stauffenberg's demise, and given that the narrator of the book was Von Stauffenberg himself, I was curious to see how West was going to approach the second half of the book. I underestimated the man. The death of the narrator did not phase him for one moment. Nor did it cause a change in the voice of the book. Goodness. I hadn't expect that.

I have also read The Women Of Whitechapel - drawn again by subject, title and cover. But I give. As curious as I am about Bela and his white Christmas, about Lord Byron and his doctor, I'm gonna give it a pass