On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House

Rating:
Summary: Handke's Characteristic Alchemy
Review: The editorial review here is pretty accurate, insofar as summations can ever do justice to a Handke novel, which rely little on plot or human characterization for their power. The novel really takes off when Handke puts his protagonist on the "steppes"--which turn out to be the plains of north-central Spain--and has him explore and experience himself in nature. Readers who liked "My Year in the No-Man's Bay" of "Weight of the World" will like this; here are long passages equally evocative and magical. Undoubtedly there are significances here that literati will find resonant, and perhaps metaphorical parallels that students of European politics will identify, but as an exploration into consciousness, into human interactions with nature and time and memory, this small novel delivers an experience that is very satisfying indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Isolation Examined
Review: This was a fantastic, albeit somewhat depressing, book. I agree with the other reviewers here. But I would add that the book is a moving exploration of man's ultimate and inherent isolation.