Pieces of the tightrope walking, performing Tyll Ulenspielgel's personal history emerge, the change in him after the forest inhabited by the cold woman and other beings, the hanging of his father, Claus, denounced as a witch, and him running away with his 'sister' Nele. If you aren’t either, I’d suggest you to stay away from this book, even though it has been nominated on the long list of the International Booker Prize for 2020.Now on the International Booker Prize Shortlist!ĭaniel Kehlmann's translated non-linear novel is a skilfully woven blend of folklore, fantasy and European historical fiction where the medieval legend of folklore, Tyll, the spirit of rebellion, mocking, a confidence trickster and jester is transplanted three centuries later into the 17th century, travelling through the episodically portrayed horrors and devastation of the Thirty Years War, the Holy Roman Empire, and the court of Friedrich, the Winter King and Elizabeth Stuart. I simply once again got the confirmation that I personally am not a fan of historical fiction whatsoever.

223-224)ĭaniel Kehlmann’s writing was beautiful, so that wasn’t the problem with the story. In einem beliebten Roman fand er eine Beschreibung, die ihm gefiel, (…) es passte nicht recht, (…) aber das störte keinen, nie fragte jemand nach.” (p. Keine Beschreibung würde ihm gelingen, denn alles würde sich entziehen, und die Sätze, die er formen konnte, würden nicht zu den Bildern in seinem Gedächtnis passen. “Schon damals ahnte er, dass das alles in seinem Buch einst anders berichtet werden müsste. The second one being one of the character’s thoughts on how difficult & almost impossible it is to find the right words for the most traumatic experiences in your life, the way you would need to borrow them from someone else, to tell those stories to other people: “Wahrscheinlich lag es an der klobigen Sprache das war keine Sprache fürs Theater, ein Gebräu von Stöhnlauten und harten Grunzern war das, es war eine Sprache, die klang, als kämpfte einer gegen das Würgen, als hätte ein Rind einen Hustenanfall, als käme jemandem sein Bier aus der Nase.” (p. The only two passages that I highlighted while reading the book, were the every now & then reappearing descriptions of the German language that made me chuckle: I don’t have much to elaborate on, it was just that neither the characters, nor the plot managed to captivate my interest. Nevertheless, I literally had to force myself to get through “Tyll”, so I can’t give it anything higher than a 1 out of 5 star rating. My opinion is highly subjective though, since I actually really liked one of Daniel Kehlmann’s previous books, “ Ruhm“. If I’d actually be living by that mantra, I wouldn’t have finished this book. Life is too short to be reading books that you don’t enjoy.

Tyll daniel kehlmann review