Das Boot (D)
1 journaler for this copy...
In German. Attempted to read this once, but the density of slang and jargon defeated me. Will try again sometime.
In the middle of reading it now. Not half bad. I got the English translation out of the library to use as a "cheat" to save me from looking up too many things, especially nautical terms which I know in English but not German. Found out that the translation leaves out whole paragraphs, more than 10% of the book.
I appreciate that the author is frank about the crude nature of most of the conversations on the boat, and even if he reports them perhaps at excessive length (one brothel fantasy is pretty much interchangeable with another after all), it does provide a contrast with a few more thoughtful remarks. But the people involved, understandably, talk only occasionally and indirectly, in awkward words, about their feelings about the war, their worries, etc. Oddly, the translators chose to leave out some of the latter sort of talk and none of the former!
To this point, there has been no shooting whatsoever, just damp weather, stuffy cabins, boredom, and cramped muscles, along with the frustration of not finding the enemy. The author's been taking the opportunity to provide a pretty thorough tour of the boat's machinery, and also to spend as much time as possible on deck observing the changing colors and textures of the sky and the sea, the only changing things in the monotony.
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Action, finally: enemy sighted, with great relief, only to be lost, fleeing from depth charges; then a huge storm that lasts for weeks. Both described very vividly. The narrator's experience of the storm particularly brings out the sheer physical agony of being constantly shaken about, of not being able to sleep because of being thrown around in one's bunk, of being always wet, of the muscle pains caused by always bracing and holding on, the hammering effect of the sea when you go on deck... The crew can get a couple hours rest each day by diving, but the effects over five weeks (!) are cumulative. What impressed me most about the book so far was the psychological resilience of the crew. Sure, strain is definitely showing, but not as bad as it could be.
Then there's a successful attack on a convoy, followed by depth charges, much worse this time. There's some panicking among the crew, but they recover. However, afterward they're oddly subdued, not jubilant about having sunk four ships.
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One thing that I kept noticing was just how out-matched the German submarines are. Only a dozen boats in the whole Atlantic? Really, they're just inflicting mosquito bites on the British. And technically behind the enemy, no air support, too weak to hit back if attacked, relying on stealth that gets harder and harder in the face of ASDIC and radar... And then they got the order to break into the Mediterranean, through a seven-mile-wide strait guarded by half the British Navy. Everyone on board knew it was impossible. No wonder the author and the characters are really bitter against the policy-makers that send them to get ground up this way. (If they don't come back, the narrator reflects, someone will just calmly cross off a line on a list and send orders to build another boat. "We'll be on their conscience... conscience, no, who am I kidding?") Besides, hardly anyone really seems to be hostile to the British, not the narrator and especially not the Commander; the fighting seems both impossible and pointless.
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This was a book that absorbed me fully and lingered in my mind after reading.
I appreciate that the author is frank about the crude nature of most of the conversations on the boat, and even if he reports them perhaps at excessive length (one brothel fantasy is pretty much interchangeable with another after all), it does provide a contrast with a few more thoughtful remarks. But the people involved, understandably, talk only occasionally and indirectly, in awkward words, about their feelings about the war, their worries, etc. Oddly, the translators chose to leave out some of the latter sort of talk and none of the former!
To this point, there has been no shooting whatsoever, just damp weather, stuffy cabins, boredom, and cramped muscles, along with the frustration of not finding the enemy. The author's been taking the opportunity to provide a pretty thorough tour of the boat's machinery, and also to spend as much time as possible on deck observing the changing colors and textures of the sky and the sea, the only changing things in the monotony.
--------------
Action, finally: enemy sighted, with great relief, only to be lost, fleeing from depth charges; then a huge storm that lasts for weeks. Both described very vividly. The narrator's experience of the storm particularly brings out the sheer physical agony of being constantly shaken about, of not being able to sleep because of being thrown around in one's bunk, of being always wet, of the muscle pains caused by always bracing and holding on, the hammering effect of the sea when you go on deck... The crew can get a couple hours rest each day by diving, but the effects over five weeks (!) are cumulative. What impressed me most about the book so far was the psychological resilience of the crew. Sure, strain is definitely showing, but not as bad as it could be.
Then there's a successful attack on a convoy, followed by depth charges, much worse this time. There's some panicking among the crew, but they recover. However, afterward they're oddly subdued, not jubilant about having sunk four ships.
---------
One thing that I kept noticing was just how out-matched the German submarines are. Only a dozen boats in the whole Atlantic? Really, they're just inflicting mosquito bites on the British. And technically behind the enemy, no air support, too weak to hit back if attacked, relying on stealth that gets harder and harder in the face of ASDIC and radar... And then they got the order to break into the Mediterranean, through a seven-mile-wide strait guarded by half the British Navy. Everyone on board knew it was impossible. No wonder the author and the characters are really bitter against the policy-makers that send them to get ground up this way. (If they don't come back, the narrator reflects, someone will just calmly cross off a line on a list and send orders to build another boat. "We'll be on their conscience... conscience, no, who am I kidding?") Besides, hardly anyone really seems to be hostile to the British, not the narrator and especially not the Commander; the fighting seems both impossible and pointless.
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This was a book that absorbed me fully and lingered in my mind after reading.
