Kruso

• A beautiful and well-composed book about a young man in the twilight of East Germany on an island from which escape attempts are sometimes made, because Denmark is fifty kilometers away.

• You cannot simply retell it; it must be read. It is a dense book, and not because of its page count. There is a constant lapping of philosophical concepts, literary references, poetry. So much poetry. A rich, refined language. The words are right there, exactly where they belong. It opens and closes with death. Yet it is a book about life.

• Lutz Seiler edges around the oneiric world subtly, circumnavigating it closely enough so we do not get lost in it, yet keeping it ever present. He veils reality, inverts it into a photographic negative, diffuses it, creating a fraternal, distinct world draped in unfamiliar landscapes and exceptional realities, holding us in a state of quiet suspense that gives the text a very special rhythm.

• I read the last 300 pages of this novel in one sitting, captivated by the dynamic of the community living together on Hiddensee, the individual characters who bring a new world to life before the reader's eyes, the suspense, and—finally—the sheer linguistic power of Lutz Seiler.

• this book is best and more powerful in its description of longing, grief, and the burning desire for freedom. Sometimes, a desire to be free from our own minds while washing the dishes.

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