Ron Peters's Reviews > The Rings of Saturn

It’s a funny thing: I enjoyed this book very much, but only on a basis that prevents me from recommending it. I liked it because I find Sebald’s weird thoughts and obsessions to be much like the stream of bumf moved along in daily waves by the peristaltic thrusts of my own cerebrum.

In other words, I find his personal manner sympatico; I would have liked to have Sebald as a friend. But that’s no reason to recommend his writing; it only encourages a cult of personality.

His attitude might be faulted for being so negative. Not exclusively so, by any means, but heavily so all the same. He emphasizes the downside of corporate greed, our blindness to environmental degradation, and generally, the rottenness of humans behaving like wolves toward their fellow humans. But, unless you actively promote unseemly obscurantism as your worldview, it’s hard to deny what he says.

All I can suggest is that you try it and throw it down fast if it gives you gas. I’m sure, though, that Sebald will continue to find his own audience over time.