The Rings of Saturn, W.G. Sebald

In August 1992, when the dog days were drawing to an end, I set off to walk the county of Suffolk, in the hope of dispelling the emptiness that takes hold of me whenever I have completed a long stint of work. And in fact my hope was realized, up to a point; for I have seldom felt so carefree as I did then, walking for hours in the day through the thinly populated countryside, which stretches inland from the coast. 


This was a very interesting book; half fiction, half memoir, I think.The narrator (who is and is not Sebald himself) walks through Suffolk county in England. He both records what he sees and does and also much history of the places he visits. Kind of similar to the flaneur, except he's in a not very populated part of the English countryside. But he still manages to make it very interesting. Also, Sebald uses photographs in the book, which was very effective. Some chapters were more interesting than others, but overall, I enjoyed it. The Rings of Saturn has a very dreamlike feel to it, as suggested by the title. I would recommend it if you're looking for a fairly challenging read; despite it not being that long, it takes a while to get through (took me 2 or 3 days.)

Read The Rings of Saturn:

• if you like half memoir/half fiction books
• if you like books about walking
• if you like books set in England.

296 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!