Comments on: Lightning, by Jean Echenoz

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:50:48 +0000

Crake: It is obvious that Echenoz is one of my favorites — you just have to check how many that I have reviewed. He has a distinct tone and style that I very much appreciate, both entertaining and challenging. I’ve got a couple more to go and will be rationing them out — although I already know that he rewards a second reading.

By: Crake

Crake — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:53:27 +0000

Thanks for the review, Kevin. “Lightning” (well, actually, “Relámpagos”, since I read the Spanish translation) was my first Echenoz, and I liked it much more than I’d been expecting to. Especially the style, a perfect combination between irony and melancholy. I look forward to reading much more from Echenoz.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:34:56 +0000

Chad: Alas, I don’t think so. We can’t even hold the evil capitalists like J.P. Morgan responsible for this one — although Echenoz probably has fairly summarized what there response to the idea would be.

(Note: I normally trash comments that have obvious commercial links, but I have let this one through. Clicking on Chad’s name will take you to a site that has a non-commercial explanation of Tesla’s “free energy” idea, ending with another link to a book that supposedly has plans on how to build it. That would normally qualify the comment for the trash bin, but I have to admit it is in the spirit of Echenoz’s story, so I have let it stand. Forewarned is forearmed for any who go there.)

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:50:44 +0000

The search for a reliable method of producing energy from renewable resources is more urgent today than ever before. Did Nikola Tesla truly invent a “free energy device”?

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:59:21 +0000

Leroy: I probably would have had this third of three on my list before reading, based simply on my ranking of interest in music, athletics and science. Having read all three, I would be reluctant to have to rank them — all three are developed as full characters. And Echenoz adds another dimension, as I tried to indicate in my review. By looking at three such different achievers through a common lens he provides some common grounds for their very different stories.

By: leroyhunter

leroyhunter — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:49:35 +0000

Tesla is a fascinating figure, of the 3 “bios” this would be the one I’d pick to start with, everything else being equal.

All the qualities that made me want to read Echenoz before seem to be here as well Kevin – no surprise. It’s a question of when, not if.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:04:43 +0000

Max: I am sure that reading Echenoz would be a challenge when other matters are pre-occupying you. In all of his books (including the biographies) there is a "twist" to reality the demands attention or the rest doesn't make sense. The paragraph about decline brought tears to my eyes, partly because I recalled similar ones in Ravel and Running marking a point where closure was becoming the central issue. It's a testimony to the translation that it works so well -- Coverdale did all three of the biographies and I never was aware of a slip.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:38:28 +0000

The bit with JP Morgan suggests Tesla as a man greater than the society which holds him. His vision, free energy for all, would transform the world. Vested interests prevent it.

I started Echenoz’s Blondes recently, but was tired through work and had to quickly bail. A shame as it read well from the first page.

That paragraph on decline is painful to read, because it’s so recognisably true. A fascinating writer.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:48:24 +0000

BiP: I think most readers who go through 70-100 books a year like the thought of a “one-night-read” author — shortish books (perhaps longish novellas) that can be picked up just after dinner and finished just in time for bed. That’s where Echenoz fits for me — the problem with both the biographies and his other works is that they demand (and reward) a second-read. So I now regard them as “two-night” projects.

By: Buried In Print

Buried In Print — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:41:42 +0000

The contrast in style that you mention (in regards to these three and to his other works) is exceptionally intriguing; I would definitely like to give the works of this author a try!