Marlen Haushofer

Shaun Whiteside

The Wall

Die Wand

A haunting feminist sci-fi masterpiece and international bestseller that is "as absorbing as Robinson Crusoe" (Doris Lessing)

taylor miles hopkins

Since my childhood I had forgotten how to see things with my own eyes, and I had forgotten that the world had once been young, untouched and very beautiful and terrible. 

I was no longer in search of a meanin to make my life more bearable. That kind of desire me as being almost presumptuous. Human beings had played their own games, and in almost every case they had ended badly. And how could I complain? I was one of them and couldn't judge them, because I understood them so well. It was better not to think about human beings. The great game of the sun, moon and stars seemed to be working out, and that hadn't been invented by humans. 

Wall

Swung between wanting more to happen and relishing the ponderous nothingness. Some powerful reflections being a woman.

“The only way a woman can experience solitude without judgment and recrimination scuffing up against her peace, is if the rest of the world has come to a complete standstill and there is no one around to see her.”

Molly Bridge

Swung between wanting more to happen and relishing the ponderous nothingness. Some powerful reflections being a woman.

“The only way a woman can experience solitude without judgment and recrimination scuffing up against her peace, is if the rest of the world has come to a complete standstill and there is no one around to see her.”

I typically struggle with books that lack chapters (I tend to forget the narrative structure without a set resting point), but this one didn’t need that foundation whatsoever. It does slow down the reading pace, but this aligns well with the story itself. A powerful, introspective, poetic, accepting, feminist work. I always loved survival/pastoral books growing up, but never recognized how little I could relate to those usually very masculine protagonists until this book—the author explores gender in an interesting way through this genre. 

I also enjoyed that the wall itself plays a secondary role to the narrator—we don’t get a lot of answers to the sci-fi aspects to this story, nor do we need them. They create the situation, but don’t overwhelm and distract from the arguably more unique and solid pieces of the narrative. I could see a lot of people disliking this, but I like that this book can be confident in not laying out every detail and keeping itself very open to interpretation and possibilities.

Paired with Domaine Léon Boesch’s Pierres Rouges, which was a tart white wine that reminded me of a saison in wine form. Wine and book were paired together by Drink Books in Phinney Ridge, Seattle. 

A slow and beautiful, wonderful burn.

I typically struggle with books that lack chapters (I tend to forget the narrative structure without a set resting point), but this one didn’t need that foundation whatsoever. It does slow down the reading pace, but this aligns well with the story itself. A powerful, introspective, poetic, accepting, feminist work. I always loved survival/pastoral books growing up, but never recognized how little I could relate to those usually very masculine protagonists until this book—the author explores gender in an interesting way through this genre. 

I also enjoyed that the wall itself plays a secondary role to the narrator—we don’t get a lot of answers to the sci-fi aspects to this story, nor do we need them. They create the situation, but don’t overwhelm and distract from the arguably more unique and solid pieces of the narrative. I could see a lot of people disliking this, but I like that this book can be confident in not laying out every detail and keeping itself very open to interpretation and possibilities.

Paired with Domaine Léon Boesch’s Pierres Rouges, which was a tart white wine that reminded me of a saison in wine form. Wine and book were paired together by Drink Books in Phinney Ridge, Seattle. 

Rita Lisboa

One of the most beautiful pieces of writing I ever encountered. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

Amber Laha

I tried to get through this, but it was too slow too long(I know I know) but nothing really happens but the same thing. I did find it interesting to see how she handled being all alone and trying to survive, but we never find out why the wall was there, who put it there, how did it get there?? No answers which make for a very dissatisfying book.

Une catastrophe sans doute planétaire mais dont l'origine chimique ou nucléaire restera indéfinie va bouleverser l'existence d'une femme ordinaire. Elle se retrouve soudain séparée du reste du monde par un mur invisible au-delà duquel toute vie semble s'être pétrifiée durant la nuit. Le roman le plus célèbre et le plus émouvant de Marlen Haushofer. Voici le roman le plus célèbre et le plus émouvant de Marlen Haushofer, journal de bord d'une femme ordinaire, confrontée à une expérience-limite. Après une catastrophe planétaire, l'héroïne se retrouve seule dans un chalet en pleine forêt autrichienne, séparée du reste du monde par un mur invisible au-delà duquel toute vie semble s'être pétrifiée durant la nuit. Tel un moderne Robinson, elle organise sa survie en compagnie de quelques animaux familiers, prend en main son destin dans un combat quotidien contre la forêt, les intempéries et la maladie. Et ce qui aurait pu être un simple exercice de style sur un thème à la mode prend dès lors la dimension d'une aventure bouleversante où le labeur, la solitude et la peur constituent les conditions de l'expérience humaine.

Le mur invisible

léna 

** spoiler alert **
           ok i’ve finished this book like almost a week ago and i can’t help but think about it : how the character didn’t let herself sink, how she worked hard for her survival but also for her animals. How she never took them, or Nature, for granted, and how she knew they all depended so much on each other. How she managed to built this some sort of sanctuary, despite the hardships. And how everything she had built got destroyed in a matter of seconds, by a man. i don’t know i just keep thinking it’s a pretty good metaphor of the female condition 

this is a really interesting robinsonade that is so fundamentally different from Defoe’s work, in the way the character never think of herself as the master of the land she is forced to live on, but rather as a temporary habitant that will inevitably disappear while Nature will always be here

Durch ein unheimliches Ereignis von der Umwelt abgeschnitten, lebt eine Frau jahrelang in völliger Einsamkeit unter grossen Entbehrungen in einem Jagdhaus in den Alpen.

Roman

Luisa Claudia

megan 

Klaudia Nörenberg

Anna

Zoe Lamus

Paula Felice

Camilla

A. D. Knapp

A la suite d'une catastrophe planétaire, une femme fait l'apprentissage de la solitude et de la peur.

The Wall

Reviews

Highlights