01-02-2020, 01:37 PM
Another book sale find. You might remember the author from The Wine of Violence (I believe it got a thumbs up from the Yeti) or Only Begotten Daughter. Now he's more niche, and with a small press - Tachyon, which I hadn't heard of, but it's in SF.
It's about a mental institution in a small neutral country on the French/German border, run by Dr. Caligari, who is an alchemist as well as a psychiatrist, and who paints a picture that inspires lust for battle in those who look at it. WWI is starting, and both sides are paying to parade troops past the painting. But an American who got a job as an art therapist and several of the inmates decide to try to stop Caligari.
Entertaining but ultimately a bit slight. Started strong but kind of tapered off. Not a keeper, so into the trading pile it goes.
It's about a mental institution in a small neutral country on the French/German border, run by Dr. Caligari, who is an alchemist as well as a psychiatrist, and who paints a picture that inspires lust for battle in those who look at it. WWI is starting, and both sides are paying to parade troops past the painting. But an American who got a job as an art therapist and several of the inmates decide to try to stop Caligari.
Entertaining but ultimately a bit slight. Started strong but kind of tapered off. Not a keeper, so into the trading pile it goes.
the hands that guide me are invisible
