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Title: The Waterfalls of Slunj (Sun and Moon Classics) by Eithne Wilkins, Ernst Kaiser ISBN: 1-55713-320-4 Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A Perfect Novel
Comment: Heimito von Doderer (1896 - 1966) is one of the great Austrian writers of the 20th century. Be came famous with his two novels "The Strudelhofstiege" (1951) and "The Demons" (1956), which explore in a grand sweep Viennese life before World War II. His novel "The Waterfalls of Slunji" came out 1963, three years before his death, and is one of his later works. It is absolutely brilliant. The story is set in Vienna of the 1870s, the time of industrial revolution in the somewhat backwards Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The Claytons, a family of enterprising English engineers and machine manufacturers, come to Vienna and set up a machine manufacturing plant. Robert Clayton and his son Donald Clayton become involved with life in Vienna, they meet people, people meet them, and Doderer weaves a rich tapestry of fates, developments and vignettes. The novel is held altogether by a big composition of longitudinal plot. Donald, the younger Clayton, suffers from indecision, a character trait that becomes already obvious in his youth, when he is not able to overcome a childhood phobia, and which eventually leads decades later to his downfall as he looses the woman he loves to his father and perishes at the waterfalls in Slunj (Croatia, then a part of the Hapsburg Monarchy). Doderer is at his best. All characters come into life. Doderer's humor is at the top of its game. Marvelous! One of the best novels ever!

Rating: 4
Summary: an interesting period piece, a slightly disappointing novel
Comment: While The Waterfalls of Slunj held my attention until its end, it was ultimately a bit disappointing as a novel. The most interesting aspect of the book is its depiction of the mixture of cultures and nationalities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, perhaps precisely because of the author's effort to capture a whole social milieu, the individual characters remain somewhat undeveloped and the plot is strangely disjointed. Still, on the whole I found The Waterfalls to be an enjoyable period piece and an illuminating portrait of a fascinating time and place. And what other book are you likely to read whose title contains the word "Slunj"?