The Capital by Robert Menasse is a gripping yet entertaining novel that examines the political power structures and background of EU decision-making processes. The author manages to present complex relationships in an understandable way whilst never letting humour fall by the wayside.
Particularly interesting is the character of EU bureaucrat Frederik Pollock, who develops throughout the novel whilst experiencing a whole series of personal conflicts and moral dilemmas. The other characters are also multifaceted and credibly portrayed.
Overall, The Capital by Robert Menasse is a book that’s interesting both for readers who want to understand the political background of the EU and for those simply seeking a good story with depth. I can warmly recommend it.
How does that read? Is that enough of a book note for you, does it whet your appetite for more? Or do you need additional information? And what would you say if that wasn’t written by me at all, but by a computer, a ChatGPT bot?
Over the Christmas break I dove into ChatGPT from openai and I reckon ChatGPT has the makings of a true disruptor. Fascinating stuff. Unlike Google, you can ask ChatGPT anything and the AI bot delivers answers publication-ready or straight in the code of your choice. The book note above came from my instruction “Write a book review of ‘The Capital’ by Robert Menasse”. ChatGPT can do incredible things and you absolutely should get familiar with it. Soon we’ll be seeing ChatGPT content everywhere because it’s so easy—and currently free—to pump content onto the web. ChatGPT can work through the most complicated texts and extract their essence. I find this both powerful and threatening. And since Microsoft is a major sponsor of openai (Elon Musk was on the Board of Directors until 2018), ChatGPT could soon be available in Bing and other Microsoft apps. Google and co. better watch out, because I see ChatGPT as a game changer.
Naturally this raises questions about the impact on us writers. ChatGPT can also write poems and haikus. I find generating topic ideas particularly interesting—like “Create a list of 10 article topics about xyz”. We can’t and mustn’t ignore this. But what’s left for us? If ChatGPT takes over the simple stuff (sports, weather, stocks) and the complicated, research-intensive topics (the 10 largest saltwater lakes on Earth), we’re left with only the complex and creative themes where truly new things emerge and thoughts arise that AI can’t reach. So when you read smoothly polished texts in future, don’t be surprised—just click away. A computer has simply collected something, reproduced it nicely and perhaps mixed it up. This also means we’ll need to read even better and more carefully.
Now to the book note above. Sure, that’s one way to describe the book. But I came away with a different impression. Frederick Pollock plays no role for me in the book whatsoever. I read the book within days, so it gripped me. But I’m disappointed by the ending where everything frays apart. In the prologue Menasse connects all the characters who appear later in the book within a few pages via a pig hopping across a square in Brussels. That was confusing because you had to remember so many names (or not) and I found the pig an almost irritatingly artificial device (actually until the end). Content-wise there were many promises, but ultimately it didn’t pull through for me.
I would have liked the different characters who seemingly grew closer throughout the book to somehow come together at the end. Instead a few of them die simultaneously whilst the rest get to live on. Too many questions remain open for me. I can live with open endings, but the book unravels too much for my taste. And what about the pig or the other pigs anyway? All quite confusing and I get the feeling the author wanted to bring in too many themes (lobbying via the pig issue, China, etc.). Overall the book is still worth reading because you can tell from every word that Menasse simply knows his craft. So I’ll soon read the follow-up book “The Extension” as well. Looking forward to it.
For every book I read like this, I speak little audio notes into my phone whilst reading. Really just for myself. I’ve packed the first 3-4 audio notes into an mp3 here without further editing. The audio quality and volume levels vary, but that’s how you recognise the different parts. Might be interesting.
I write these book notes only for myself. That’s why they might read a bit cryptically. Just read it yourself. You can find more book notes here.
From reinergaertner.de, est. 1997. Translated with the help of an AI that speaks better English than I do. Which isn’t saying much, after 25 years of Denglish.