Animal Triste: Roman

I cannot praise this novel highly enough. It taught me how to love without regret and savor the moments that make life worth living. Though originally written in German, the translation is flawless. Every single sentence is a well-crafted masterpiece worthy of quotation. Maron is able to do what so few authors can: create a story that is inexplicably human -- one to which almost anybody who has experienced love can relate. The relationship between significant others and the construction of identity is central to the narrator's characterization. After an enthralling love affair with a married man, the narrator develops a hopeless fixation with him and is incapable of fully living life in his absence. The unreliable first-person narration gives the reader insight into the many layers of this obsession -- from selective rememberance of their time spent together to her need to preserve the most inane remnants of their relationship long after its demise. Through the use of her lover in shaping her existence, the weakness of her personality is revealed piece-by-piece as a jumbled collection of haunting memories. Conclusion: read this book. I promise you will not regret it. (Und besser auf Deutsch! Ich las und liebte das Buch auf beiden Sprachen.)