Homo Faber

Since 2015 has just begun (Happy New Year by the way) I wanted to share one of my favourite books I read in 2014: Max Frisch's Homo Faber. It was recommended to me by a dear friend of mine (a fellow book enthusiast) and so I had high expectations. It didn't disappoint! And, now I know I can trust her book recommendations :)

Now, even though it was a brilliant novel, it did take me a while to get properly stuck into it. I thought the beginning of the novel was a bit too random. It started off with the main character getting on a plane, then the plane crashes, then some other stuff happens, and finally the narrative takes off in the direction that it's 'supposed' to go in. I say 'supposed' because Frisch doesn't really talk about the plane crash again, so I don't really see what that has to do with the story as a whole. Maybe I'm just missing something?

But once I had got past that little hurdle, the story sucked me in and I finished in two evenings. I just couldn't stop reading! I enjoyed the plot, but I think my favourite thing about the novel as a whole was the fluidity of the writing style.The story is written in first person and here it is very clear to see what a talented author Frisch is. I sometimes find that authors are not able to write well in a first person narrative because it soon begins to sound limited. But first person narratives can be great because they allow readers to walk side by side with the narrator; we only know what he/she knows. Frisch seems to be completely at ease with this style of writing.

This type of book is something which I call a 'contradictory novel'; nothing much really happens, but yet so much does happen! I love these kinds of books, so it's no wonder that I enjoyed Homo Faber so much. Some of my favourite books of all time are 'contradictory novels' (bare in mind, this is not an official term, I made it up). Books like The Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar and The Stranger, where nothing much happens and yet the narrative is fast paced.

I loved Homo Faber. So I guess it comes to no surprise that when I found another Frisch book (it's called I'm not Stiller) a few days ago, I got so very excited and had to buy it at once! I can't wait to get stuck into that one. I'll let you know what I think about it once I've finished reading it...