Book review: ‘Campo Santo’ by W.G. Sebald

Campo Santo

Look, I am officially giving up trying to describe Sebald’s books. They are unlike anything you have ever read before. Unless you’ve read Sebald—in which case, you’ll know what to expect.

Wonderful.

Postscript, March 2019: The above was written in 2009. I have re-read Campo Santo four times since then. Having read and re-read loads of his work, I now like to think I ‘get’ Sebald a bit more than I did—but his work is impossible to describe.

Although Campo Santo was published posthumously, and comprises essays on a number of different subjects, it still feels like a proper book, rather than something that has been cobbled together by Sebald’s literary executors. The essays on Corsica at the start of the book are particularly enjoyable.

Note: I will receive a small referral fee if you buy this book via one of the above links.

Richard Carter

A fat, bearded chap with a Charles Darwin fixation.

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