Customer Reviews

The Wall

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read The Wall because it was assigned to me as part of a German Women Writers in Translation course. Wait... don't stop reading, quite yet... I had reservations about the novel when I first started it, because I thought it would either be dull and boring, or it would be too much like science fiction/fantasy or a nature novel, two genres I don't enjoy most of the time. It is neither.

This novel is actually a portrait of courage. As others have said, the unnamed author finds that she is the last person left after a nuclear holocaust. She is protected by an invisible shield and must learn to survive on her own.

The woman copes by writing a diary of her situation. She tell us, on the first page: "I'm not writing for the sheer joy of writing; so many things have happened to me that I must write if I am not to lose my reason."

The narrator comes across as very honest and the story is very moving. As she writes, "I can't think who I should lie to today. I can allow myself to write the truth; all the people for whom I have lied throughout my life are dead."

There are wonderful passages throughout the novel; my book is covered in highlighter pen because so many lines stood out. The process the author goes through to come to terms with what has happened and survive is realistic and gripping. The portrait of nature is quite captivating.

Overall, this novel has an important message about what it means to be human. It speaks to the need to work for peace; to come together to avoid creating a situation where this novel could actually take place. It is an important work that I believe everyone who is concerned for the future of our planet should read. You will be moved and you will be changed by this book.

Years ago I was looking for a "fiction" book to read, after having read so many self-help type books and I came across The Wall. I had no idea what a fabulous read I was in for on that day. I was drawn into the story in a way that is difficult to describe. I truly felt that I was there experiencing every single moment. The pictures were drawn so deftly, my mind came alive! One minute it was all peaceful and calm, and the next minute there was a horror and a fright -- then this was followed by a resolve and an inner strength. This is a most beautiful "woman's" story - to me. I read this book in the 80's, and in all that time, I have been looking for it again - as I must have given it out for another to read and never got it back. The Wall has haunted my life since -- and today I waded through 100's of titles trying one more time to find the book and there it was..... Any book that can stay with a person for 15 or more years, has to be a book that touches a true place. Brava!

This book is about my biggest dream and my worst nightmare... living in the mountains with beautiful alpine meadows AND losing every single person I have loved in my life. I was mezmorized as the author described the nameless woman's reactions to the Wall. She was a somewhat pampered, middle-class, middle-aged woman whom had only recently learned to drive and suddenly found herself in a bizarre and frightening situation. She was on holiday with her cousin and cousin's husband at their hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains. After waking to discover they had not returned from an evening in the village she decided to walk down to the village to look for them. As she rounded a corner she literally ran into a wall.."a smooth, cool resistance where there could be nothing but air". She could see everything that had once been alive was now dead on the other side of the wall and could only surmise that she was the sole survivor of a military experiment gone bad. The rest of the book is her attempt to make sense of what has happened and to make a life for herself with just a few animals for companionship. This is one of the most unique books I have read.

'The Wall' is the story of a woman caught alone except for a dog, a cat, and a cow within mysterious invisible walls somewhere in the Swiss Alps. It is a masterwork of human, and particularly female, psychology. The detailed text moves at a slow, almost glacial pace which takes some time to adjust to. But then the reader is captured in a world which is real enough to touch. This book remains as a strong presence long after the last page has been turned.

A book lost to modern readers, the Wall could be compared favourably to the Road, or Oryx and Crake, or early science fiction novels like 1984. It has one lone narrator and protagonist, who lives through an unexplained world changing event, surrounded and ensconced by an impenetrable wall in the company of cats, cows and crows.

Middle aged, middle class, and seemingly helpless, survival skills become second nature, and only the smallest of comforts keep her alive and sustained. Yet, throughout there is no sense that this woman is self pitying or paupered. If anything the protagonist seems to grow, and learn not only how to create a livable environment for herself, but one for her companions, keeping them warm, safe and occasionally breeding.

The contrast between the facts of dissolution and daily life is stark, but breathtaking in its simplicity.

A book to remember for its message, warmth and strength.

A woman on holiday goes in search of her friends who didn't return during the night. She runs into an invisible wall which surrounds her apparently, and every living thing on the opposite side is dead. Struggling to keep her wits and to survive, she must change from the rhythms of living with other people to living according to the seasons and the animals she must take care of (a dog, a cow, some cats, others). Haushofer's stellar tale is a concise, powerful indictment (much like Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale") on the destructive capabilities of our world as run by men. It's through the rhythms of women and of nature that survival is possible through any adversity. My favorite quote: "Loving and looking after another creature is a very troublesome business, and much harder than killing and destruction. It takes twenty years to bring up a child, and ten seconds to kill it."

The Wall is a story about one woman's isolation in a forest. She starts out at a hunting lodge with friends who leave for a visit into town. They never return and she is forced to live by herself because a wall has suddenly been built that surrounds her.They say this is a story about a female Robinson Crusoe and I liken her to a female warrior fighting the war within.An excellent well done book with lots of thoughts for discussion. A great bookclub book.

I cant say enough about this book. I read it 10 years ago and I still am reeling about the way the book affected the way I think.

I loved this book only after I'de finished it. It was then that I realized how hypnotic the story line was. The author draws you along in such a gentle, rhythmic story that you all but forget the horrific situtation the woman is living in. "The Wall" is an incredibly thought provoking book.