Like all of Sebald’s works, this prose narrative (a more apt description for his writing than “novel”) incorporates elements of memoir and travelogue into something unique. His characters often share his interest in photographs and ephemera, and these, too, are presented to the reader, sometimes with explanation, sometimes not. What ties the disparate components of Sebald’s art and the separate stories of The Emigrants together is the way that history and tragedy exert a tidal pull on sentences that recount the unremarkable surfaces of ordinary lives. The intimate force of his work has often been called uncanny, and that it is; it’s unforgettable, too.
No one really writes like Sebald, or should I say, no one before him did. The mix of form throughout all of his books is captivating and engrossing. This may not even be his best book, but read them all!
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