The Loser: A Novel

Thomas Bernhard writes, "When we meet the very best, we have to give up, I thought." This is a book about the agony, envy, and resignation of not being a genius. Do you require such a book? I needed it, though I did not know that. It's also a book about the misery of inheriting a vast sum of money, /not/ a book I needed, particularly, though I was so hooked I went right along with it.Of all the books I've read that consist of a single, unbroken, paragraph -- Garcia Marquez, Beckett, Saramago -- this was my far the most effortless, the most compulsively readable. My bitterness, I discovered, was downright ecstatic to have some company. It warms like a bonfire, piling on obsessions, repetitions, and brilliance, and some of perhaps the best sentences I've ever read: "A person can be ruined for life in Chur, even if he only spends one night there."This must be a good place to start reading Thomas Bernhard, since I'd never read any of his novels before this one (I'd read only stories of "The Voice Imitator") and now I am determined to read everything. It is an oddly addictive voice; a week later I am still cross I don't have more Bernhard to read.In the midst of investigating misery, ways of surviving it are found and lost, then found and lost again. Art, for one, though it is found to be a most uncertain raft.

I loved the idea of this book (I’m a classical musician myself) but had to put it down halfway through, which is something I almost never do. It read like one long run-on paragraph that never got to the point. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but nothing ever did. Maybe that was the point? Maybe some people enjoy this style of neurotic stagnation? I honestly cannot believe I am putting a book down and not finishing it. I just couldn’t. Too many other books on my to-be-read shelf.

Loved it. A sad and bitter trip to Austria, the narrator’s memories of Glenn Gould and the different ways his contemporaries reacted to his genius were both funny and scathing. A really interesting read, excellent writing.

Here, you have a story told in complete narration inside the primary character's head. This story takes you through the landscape of Austria , completely inside the mind of one person. It is a fascinating story and means to story telling. A definite read for anyone who enjoys something a little outside the ordinary.

Hysterical and affirmative. So much self loathing it's curves in on itself. Great writing about a sad guy and a suicidal guy and how they cope by trying to figure out what the social sciences are. No the human sciences I meant. A true loser. Blame Glenn Guilds genius. He is a madman like Artaud.

"His worshippers worship a phantom, they worship a Glenn Gould who never existed, I thought. But *my* Glenn Gould was incomparably greater, more deserving of worship, I thought, than theirs."

AMAZING. This book changed my life. Normally I am averse to stream of consciousness narrative style but this was just so well written I couldn’t put it down.

Very gritty and mind blowing when it comes to trying to achieve perfection at its most supreme level.

Arguably the most oddball work most people will encounter with it's style of 'stream of consciousness'. Virtually the entire book is written as one paragraph and he uses phrases as punctuation. I heard the book reviewed on R4's 'A Good Read' programme, was intrigued by what the reviewers said about it and immediately bought it. when it arrived I started reading it right away and could not put it down - except for sleep - and read it in a day and a half. I'll say nothing more than the fact that the work revolves around the un-named author who at the start of the book is a student of classical piano along with two others, both of whom feature all throughout the work - one to go on to world-fame as a concert pianist - and I won't tell you what happens to the 'other chap' other than to suggest you buy the book to find out.

Probably the best book I have read since Ballard last year and it will certainly take something truly good to displace this as best read of the year. I can hardly add to the excellent Afterword written by Mark Anderson on this book and Thomas Bernhard. This is not so much a book as a supreme work of art which uses form to delineate something bigger and more important.Bernhard uses the method that he used in most of his writings which is a long, single paragraphed monologue of great intensity. Anderson points out that there is much in the book which is auto-biographical but he distorts his facts to serve his purpose. His means to do this is through his three protagonists, all friends and colleagues and piano students under Horovitz at the Mozarteum in Salzburg - Glenn Gould, Wertheimer and the narrator. All three have elements of Bernhard in them as they appear on the page. Gould is more or less true to life as the virtuoso genius of the Goldberg Variations which plays an important function through the book. The book unfolds like one great series of variations - Bernhard's own Goldberg - turning on itself, giving a line, repeating that line with added information later, never resisting the flow of information but by repeat building up layer upon layer of truth and beauty as Bernhard sees it.In some ways one should read the afterwords first to give a lien to the complexity and modern relevance of 'The Loser' which Anderson is to be complimented on, as too is Jack Dawson for the excellent and painstaking translation. But to read the Afterword first would detract from the voyage of discovery and pure pleasure that this book brings to the reader.A word of warning. Do not pick this book up if you want linear narrative. If you want it all laid out on a plate for you, if you are not prepared to think and work at this book and to read EVERY word, every sentence - every note so to speak - then give this one a miss. It needs the extra care and attention.However if you DO do this then you will be opening up a modern master. This is a brilliant book and Thomas Bernhard's work needs to be more readily available.

This is my second Thomas Bernhard novel, and whilst reading it my liking for his unique prose style increased. An unnamed narrator walks into an inn and talks to himself about his two best friends (one being Glenn Gould the famous piano virtuoso, the other being Wertheimer "the loser" who has committed suicide by hanging himself near his sister's house). The obsessional, repetitive and funny thoughts of the unnamed narrator continue for half the novel whilst he stands in the inn: it must be the longest wait for a drink in history! Eventually the landlady sees him and it isn't long before he has moved on, both physically and mentally, to the subject of Wertheimer's decline and suicide. It all sounds grim and pointless, but it's surprisingly engaging, especially for the reader who has a liking for cynicism and unhinged rambling: the word "cretinism" pops up quite a lot. Overall, I didn't find The Loser as satisfying as "Correction" (my first TB novel), it isn't as deep or disturbing, but still I was impressed by the peculiar intensity of it all.

As described and quickly delivered

One of the major achievements of postwar literature.