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The War of the Poor
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
6 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
From the award-winning author of The Order of the Day, a powerful account of the German Peasants War (152425) that shows striking parallels to class conflicts of our time. In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation launched an attack on privilege and the Catholic Church, but it rapidly became an established, bourgeois authority itself. Rural laborers and the urban poor, who were still being promised equality in heaven, began to question why they shouldnt have equality here and now on earth. There ensued a furious struggle between the powerfulthe comfortable Protestantsand the others, the wretched. They were led by a number of theologians, one of whom has left his mark on history through his determination and sheer energy. His name was Thomas Mntzer, and he set Germany on fire. The War of the Poor recounts his storythat of an insurrection through the Word. In his characteristically bold, cinematic style, ric Vuillard draws insights from this revolt from nearly five hundred years ago, which remains shockingly relevant to the dire inequalities we face today.
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batsy
batsy
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
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Pickpick

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 Müntzer & 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". 3y
batsy #InternationalBookerPrize2021 3y
TrishB Great review 👍🏻 3y
See All 10 Comments
Trashcanman Awesome review!! 3y
Ruthiella Nice to hear a contrary opinion. I‘m not following the prize, I‘m just following other readers who are following!😀 3y
Palimpsest @batsy Wonderful review! 3y
Simona I‘m so happy to see positive review for this book❣️ 3y
batsy @TrishB @Trashcanman @Palimpsest Thank you! ☺️ 3y
batsy @Ruthiella I'm running out of time, but making a valiant attempt to read the shortlist 😅 3y
batsy @Simona I was glad to see yours, too! A "marmite book" but a unique one ❤️ 3y
76 likes1 stack add10 comments
review
vivastory
vivastory
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
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Panpan

My feelings about this novella are inseparable from my feelings about the Man Booker. I can't say for certain if I would have read this if it didn't make the longlist & subsequent shortlist. Although I have long been acquainted with Mark Polizzotti's translations, specifically the surrealist authors, I was previously unaware of Vuillard. There have been discussions arise about the classification for this book & some have argued that it is👇

vivastory aggressively experimental. I disagree with the latter point. As far as category: it feels like a historical fiction long story. My copy is from the library & they shelved it by the Dewey Decimal System (843: French fiction). I'm going to give War of the Poor the benefit of the doubt that it is historical fiction, because although nonfiction has been nominated for MB & MBI previously, they have never won. I'm not naive & I realize this could be 3y
vivastory the year that changes, but for it to be awarded for a slight book with so little to say would be vastly disappointing. This brings me to my major issue with War of the Poor. I'm not sure that this would even classify as a novella tbh. It's 79 pages with blank pages in between chapters. It fell into that strange space in between a short story & a novella. There were a few lines that stuck out & if Vuillard had developed the story more I would have 3y
vivastory really been interested. There was a fascinating story as a seed here. It just felt completely neglected. Although he was dealing with a different period of history, I can't help but think of Kehlmann's “Tyll“ from the shortlist last year as an outstanding example of historical fiction that succeeded where Vuillard didn't.
Sidenote: Maria Stepanova's “In Memory of Memory“ is also on the shortlist which is also nf, so there is a decent chance of it (edited) 3y
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vivastory happening this year. I have nothing against nf & I read it, but I have always thought of the MB & MBI as prizes for fiction which is backed up by the history of who has been awarded the prize. I DO have a significant issue with awarding a prize to a work that may not even quite qualify as a novella, of course that's a slippery categorization... 3y
rockpools I hadn‘t heard the ‘aggressively experimental‘ argument, and wonder if I should read it again - I certainly missed that first time round! Nice summing up of the issues surrounding this one, though. I‘m kind of mystified by the whole thing. 3y
Ruthiella The YouTuber Eric Karl Anderson also didn‘t like this one and he is I think generally a very generous reader. But the prize is for the translation, so maybe there was some remarkable work in that regard? 🤔 3y
vivastory @Ruthiella Anderson's review was the first I watched of this prior to reading it. I often, although not always, agree with him. Matthew Sciarappa, another YouTuber I admire, gave it a positive review. I don't know French so I can't speak to that, but I'm skeptical tbh. My biggest problem with it is the fact that it's as Anderson said an extended wikipedia entry, 3y
Ruthiella @vivastory Oh I love Matthew as well, though I‘ve not seen his review of this. His tastes skew maybe a little from Eric‘s into the odd side. Matthew introduced me to the phrase “Disaster Woman Narrative” which I love, because I tend to like that kind of book! 3y
vivastory @Ruthiella I'm not sure if Matthew did a review for this on his channel, but I saw him praise it on twitter. I think he definitely prefers more experimental work than Eric. Disaster woman narrative is a great phrase. 3y
Simona Looks like I‘m still the only one on the planet that likes this book 😘 3y
63 likes2 stack adds10 comments
blurb
rockpools
rockpools
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
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#InternationalBookerPrize2021 shortlist announcement.

😂😂😂😂 That went well @BookwormM

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

BookwormM Think I managed 2 🤣🤣bout my usual success rate. The bad news is I have 5 that I haven‘t read 3y
rockpools @BookwormM I got 2 as well. I‘ve just the 4 still to read. Unfortunately the two I‘ve read are the shortest... 3y
rockpools @BookwormM Also, at some point, remind me what we do next? 3y
See All 9 Comments
Simona Patting my own shoulder 😘 3y
rockpools @Simona 👏👏👏👏👏👏 3y
Simona I picked only five books, because I still didn‘t received my copy of The Employees 🤨 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 😎 👇 3y
Simona ... seeing that book on the shortlist is for me the biggest surprise and I‘m really glad that is so! 3y
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 😂😘 (edited) 3y
rockpools 😂 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 😘 @Simona (edited) 3y
61 likes9 comments
review
Simona
Simona
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
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Pickpick

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) 3y
Reggie What a great review! 3y
Simona Thank you @Reggie but I‘m sad, because that book has really bad reviews. 3y
Suet624 This book sounds fascinating! Thank you for such an intriguing and in-depth review. 3y
Simona @Suet624 Thank you for such a nice comment 😊 It is an interesting story with a lot of history behind it. 3y
40 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
rockpools
rockpools
The War of the Poor | ric Vuillard
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Mehso-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 ‘Lazy‘ to me.

I‘m sure it‘s wonderful, but I don‘t really get it. @BookwormM 3y
Simona I‘m not looking forward to reading this one ... but I‘m glad that I started with two books that I did liked. 3y
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. 3y
See All 12 Comments
rockpools On the bright side, this is my #bookspin for April already! Yay! @TheAromaofBooks 3y
TrishB Great graphic 👍🏻 3y
squirrelbrain Well done on ticking off #bookspin already! 3y
TheAromaofBooks Great review!! 3y
rockpools @TrishB Thanks Trish. It‘s FREEZING out there today - feels like we‘ve gone back to November! 3y
rockpools @squirrelbrain Unheard-of behaviour! 3y
rockpools @TheAromaofBooks Thanks for giving me an excuse to buy it, Sarah! 3y
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 👍 I 3y
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. 3y
59 likes12 comments