Wracking my brain, but did Thomas ever directly speak to anyone other than Max? In such a way that the other character directly responded to Thomas as if he's, you know, actually there? Just curious...
Hmmm. Interesting idea! I like it! But what about the parties at Thomas’s apartment? I tend to think he was real, but would have to reread a lot to confirm whether we see him interact with anyone other than Max.
I think the scene of Max biting Hitler’s nose may have been a way for Max to be forced into the realization that National Socialism and the war were an evil hypocrisy - Hitler’s breath was fetid and his nose was not Aryan. It was all for nothing, absurd, as was Max’s reaction.
Of course Mandelbrod & Leland escape scot-free, I’m sure they lived privileged lives in Moscow. I’m glad we got a conclusion to their characters’ arcs.
At first I thought it was ridiculous that Clemens & Weser turn up at the end and just happen to find Max in all the chaos. But they are The Furies so they can find him anywhere. I hope the closing line of the novel means that they are still tormenting him, even though Clemens & Weser are dead.
Too coincidental that Thomas ONCE AGAIN turns up at the exact moment to save Max’s life - in more ways than one in this final meeting, with regard to the French papers. Which really lends credence to the earlier comment that he might be a figment of Max’s imagination. Maybe he was real but supernatural as well, like Clemens & Weser. I don’t know enough Greek mythology to know where he might correlate though.
I may have more thoughts as I sit with it, read more of the posts, and watch the video. Glad I read this but even happier to be finished. Max is so despicable, and I don’t buy his argument that we are all like him - he committed so many gratuitous murders. The piano player, the Hungarian diplomat just in the last few pages!!
Also (thoughts keep popping into my head), it never seems to occur to Max that the twins are his. I don’t know what to make of that. Surely they ARE his, right?
To answer your question about the last 50 pages a satisfying ending? Despite the absurdness of some of the ending, I think it had to end somehow and Max continuing to think people were after him for his crimes against humanity, I guess is as good of a place as any?
I plan to look over all of my notes this week and write a review on IG, so some things may come back to me.
A few thoughts here and I will probably chime on more as I get my thoughts together for my IG review post.
I think Thomas was a real person and that Max killed him to steal his papers and as a way out, becauseg Thomas had fake papers made up, but Max did not.
There was the part of the book where Max, Thomas and the driver that gets murdered by the kids and I think Thomas talks to the driver in that section, but I am also in agreement with him being an “imaginary” friend of Max’s. Back when they suffer from the bombing and Thomas puts his insides back through a hole and survives that? No way!
Also, Thomas always seems to get promotions at the same time as Max or ahead of him. I can totally see Thomas being a hallucination of Max’s.
The biting the nose thing? Yeah. I don’t know what that was about except Littell needed a way to have Max end up as a prisoner and try to figure out an ending and was grasping at straws?
The detectives showing up also seems like they were symbolic for part of the “Kindly Ones”? The Greek mythology.
The “we have already judged you” perhaps is also the judgment of not just his mothers murder, but the murders of the Jews.
The statement that Max makes about him being the only one that isn’t crazy when they tell him they are going to work for the Russians was pretty funny, so maybe Littell was reaching for comedy to end his tragedy.
Wracking my brain, but did Thomas ever directly speak to anyone other than Max? In such a way that the other character directly responded to Thomas as if he's, you know, actually there? Just curious...
Is Thomas just a figment of Max’s imagination…..? What an intriguing possibility. Would love to hear from all of our readers on this question!
Hmmm. Interesting idea! I like it! But what about the parties at Thomas’s apartment? I tend to think he was real, but would have to reread a lot to confirm whether we see him interact with anyone other than Max.
I think the scene of Max biting Hitler’s nose may have been a way for Max to be forced into the realization that National Socialism and the war were an evil hypocrisy - Hitler’s breath was fetid and his nose was not Aryan. It was all for nothing, absurd, as was Max’s reaction.
Of course Mandelbrod & Leland escape scot-free, I’m sure they lived privileged lives in Moscow. I’m glad we got a conclusion to their characters’ arcs.
At first I thought it was ridiculous that Clemens & Weser turn up at the end and just happen to find Max in all the chaos. But they are The Furies so they can find him anywhere. I hope the closing line of the novel means that they are still tormenting him, even though Clemens & Weser are dead.
Too coincidental that Thomas ONCE AGAIN turns up at the exact moment to save Max’s life - in more ways than one in this final meeting, with regard to the French papers. Which really lends credence to the earlier comment that he might be a figment of Max’s imagination. Maybe he was real but supernatural as well, like Clemens & Weser. I don’t know enough Greek mythology to know where he might correlate though.
I may have more thoughts as I sit with it, read more of the posts, and watch the video. Glad I read this but even happier to be finished. Max is so despicable, and I don’t buy his argument that we are all like him - he committed so many gratuitous murders. The piano player, the Hungarian diplomat just in the last few pages!!
Also (thoughts keep popping into my head), it never seems to occur to Max that the twins are his. I don’t know what to make of that. Surely they ARE his, right?
Yes, I agree with you that the twins are probably his. I also posited that they could be Moreau’s but if I’m placing bets, my money is on Max.
To answer your question about the last 50 pages a satisfying ending? Despite the absurdness of some of the ending, I think it had to end somehow and Max continuing to think people were after him for his crimes against humanity, I guess is as good of a place as any?
I plan to look over all of my notes this week and write a review on IG, so some things may come back to me.
A few thoughts here and I will probably chime on more as I get my thoughts together for my IG review post.
I think Thomas was a real person and that Max killed him to steal his papers and as a way out, becauseg Thomas had fake papers made up, but Max did not.
There was the part of the book where Max, Thomas and the driver that gets murdered by the kids and I think Thomas talks to the driver in that section, but I am also in agreement with him being an “imaginary” friend of Max’s. Back when they suffer from the bombing and Thomas puts his insides back through a hole and survives that? No way!
Also, Thomas always seems to get promotions at the same time as Max or ahead of him. I can totally see Thomas being a hallucination of Max’s.
The biting the nose thing? Yeah. I don’t know what that was about except Littell needed a way to have Max end up as a prisoner and try to figure out an ending and was grasping at straws?
The detectives showing up also seems like they were symbolic for part of the “Kindly Ones”? The Greek mythology.
The “we have already judged you” perhaps is also the judgment of not just his mothers murder, but the murders of the Jews.
The statement that Max makes about him being the only one that isn’t crazy when they tell him they are going to work for the Russians was pretty funny, so maybe Littell was reaching for comedy to end his tragedy.