The War of the Poor

pick

Contrary to popular opinion, I enjoyed this book very much. Is it a novel, a nonfiction tract, or a revolutionary manifesto? The fact that I couldn't tell was part of its appeal. Before it gets into the biographical sketch Thomas MĂĽntzer & the German Peasants' War, it takes us through the revolutionary fervour burning through Western Europe via Wat Tyler, John Ball, Jack Cade's Rebellion, Jan Hus. Incendiary, poetic, aphoristic.

batsy I liked the way the book tried to stake out its own freedom/radicalism in its form, mirroring the subject. The writing did what it wanted to do. My main quibble is that I would have liked it to be longer. I've been googling a lot since I finished trying to learn more. It's also a book that's relevant with its rallying cry to change the system: "Dear brethren, stop your delaying & hesitating! The time has come, the summer is knocking at our doors". 4y

batsy #InternationalBookerPrize2021 4y

TrishB Great review đź‘ŤđźŹ» 4y

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Trashcanman Awesome review!! 4y

Ruthiella Nice to hear a contrary opinion. I‘m not following the prize, I‘m just following other readers who are following!đź€ 4y

Palimpsest @batsy Wonderful review! 4y

Simona I‘m so happy to see positive review for this bookâťŁď¸Ź 4y

batsy @TrishB @Trashcanman @Palimpsest Thank you! âşď¸Ź 4y

batsy @Ruthiella I'm running out of time, but making a valiant attempt to read the shortlist đź… 4y

batsy @Simona I was glad to see yours, too! A "marmite book" but a unique one âť¤ď¸Ź 4y

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rockpools

The War of the Poor | Éric Vuillard

#InternationalBookerPrize2021 shortlist announcement.

đź‚đź‚đź‚đź‚ That went well @BookwormM

I‘m guessing your predictions were pretty spot-on @Simona ?

BookwormM Think I managed 2 đź¤Łđź¤Łbout my usual success rate. The bad news is I have 5 that I haven‘t read 4y

rockpools @BookwormM I got 2 as well. I‘ve just the 4 still to read. Unfortunately the two I‘ve read are the shortest... 4y

rockpools @BookwormM Also, at some point, remind me what we do next? 4y

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Simona Patting my own shoulder đź 4y

rockpools @Simona đź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Ź 4y

Simona I picked only five books, because I still didn‘t received my copy of The Employees đź¤¨ and my gut feeling is telling me that I will like that book (after reading a few reviews ... because I was really curious and I couldn‘t avoid them any longer). I was considering to put In Memory on my list, but I enjoyed The Perfect Nine much more than in Memory ... and one of the judges must have had the same reading experience with The War as me đźŽ đź‘‡ 4y

Simona ... seeing that book on the shortlist is for me the biggest surprise and I‘m really glad that is so! 4y

Simona Just to know that I‘m not ignoring you ... I can‘t brag on my feed, so my response to your comment is here đź‚đź (edited) 4y

rockpools đź‚ You brag as much as you like here! I think I‘d need to take a week off work next year, to get through all of them (not that it‘d make any difference to my hopeless predictions!). I‘m v happy about The Employees. TWotP baffles me (sorry) - I may have to read it again to see what I missed. I definitely missed something! For some reason I‘m expecting Smoking in Bed not to be my thing. And I‘m about to start When We Cease. Happy Reading đź @Simona (edited) 4y

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Simona

The War of the Poor | Éric Vuillard

pick

Thomas Müntzer was a German preacher, reformer, as it was Martin Luther. The crucial difference between both men was that the Luther didn‘t poke the rich, and Müntzer was. He was radical theologian, strongly against aristocracy and the church, a church that doesn't speak the simple language of poor. Main thread in this essayistic novella is his anger and his power to become leader in the Peasant war (1525). I have read this story as ... ?

Simona ... a sermon of an angry preacher who wants to correct the injustice with the violence. Absolutely not perfect, and I doubt that it is a prizeworthy story, but I liked it very much. #InternationalBookerPrize2021 (edited) 4y

Reggie What a great review! 4y

Simona Thank you @Reggie but I‘m sad, because that book has really bad reviews. 4y

Suet624 This book sounds fascinating! Thank you for such an intriguing and in-depth review. 4y

Simona @Suet624 Thank you for such a nice comment đźŠ It is an interesting story with a lot of history behind it. 4y

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rockpools

The War of the Poor | Éric Vuillard

so-so

Um.

So what this highlighted is that my knowledge of European history is shocking and it‘s about time I learnt something about peasant revolution. So that‘s good.

It‘s about Thomas Müntzer and the German Peasant War of 1524-5. I quite admire that a tale about making God accessible to the people is distilled down to 100ish pages of quite easy read - I probably wouldn‘t read a 500page biog of Müntzer.

But.Um? Yeah. It feels like an extended??

rockpools creative essay, essay, I‘m a bit confused by the nonfictionyness of the #InternationalBookerPrize2021 this year and I‘m afraid references to Devon bumpkins kind of shout â€Lazy‘ to me.

I‘m sure it‘s wonderful, but I don‘t really get it. @BookwormM 4y

Simona I‘m not looking forward to reading this one ... but I‘m glad that I started with two books that I did liked. 4y

rockpools @Simona It‘s short Simona - you can read it on your lunch break and be done with it. I didn‘t make it through Tyll last year, but this makes me think I should‘ve appreciated it more. 4y

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rockpools On the bright side, this is my #bookspin for April already! Yay! @TheAromaofBooks 4y

TrishB Great graphic đź‘ŤđźŹ» 4y

squirrelbrain Well done on ticking off #bookspin already! 4y

TheAromaofBooks Great review!! 4y

rockpools @TrishB Thanks Trish. It‘s FREEZING out there today - feels like we‘ve gone back to November! 4y

rockpools @squirrelbrain Unheard-of behaviour! 4y

rockpools @TheAromaofBooks Thanks for giving me an excuse to buy it, Sarah! 4y

BookwormM OMG you have 1 down @tstan has sent me reviews for at least 6 and I won‘t be able to collect mine until late next week due to bank holidays. Well done đź‘Ť I 4y

rockpools @BookwormM It is the shortest book ever, though! And @tstan is a super-reader - how does she do it??! I‘m going to finish at least one more before I send you any reviews to check I‘m being (roughly) consistent with my marks. 4y

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