![\"Die](\"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/die_zukunft_des_mars_2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI find the book\u2019s color scheme very appealing: it uses a fixed palette and carries the contrasting orange and the dark green of the cover and spine into the interior. The cover features a sketch meant to depict Elussa and her daughter. The curved, lightly debossed title on the cover is echoed inside the book through its radial arrangement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The typeface and colors also mirror the content nicely. The story is set in a fictitious future that is strangely backward and casts a shadow on a modern past. The headings and the orange fore-edge feel modern, while the text typeface, the green, and Anke Feuchtenberger\u2019s cover sketch reflect a present that is somehow simple and impoverished. The colors orange and green also take on meaning within the story itself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It\u2019s not only the design that the content influences; a few blank pages at the end also pick up an element from the story. The protagonist\u2019s notes are written on blank pages at the end of a book, and so this volume leaves space for that as well\u2014an inventive detail I like very much.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n From the blurb, I actually expected something along the lines of science fiction. What I then entered was a dystopia that, especially at the beginning, reminded me a little of Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em> by Orwell or Brave New World<\/em> by Huxley. The story opens with the notes of one of the inhabitants of Mars, who describes various scenes from the life of the colony. As with Orwell, the reader sees the world through the limited gaze of someone within that environment and immerses into an alien culture. Accordingly, one\u2019s understanding of the colony\u2014its way of life and social structures\u2014only expands gradually.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the second chapter, the perspective shifts to Elussa and her daughter Alide, who live on Earth in the city of Germania. Although there, too, society and politics are shaped by new, patriarch-led structures, the entire world has a post-apocalyptic, impoverished cast. Here as well, the viewpoint is limited to Elussa and a few secondary figures, and it quickly becomes clear that Earth is quite backward. However, the overall setting feels only moderately threatening or extreme. Since the action on Earth takes place at Christmastime, and the central location\u2014the \u201cElectronic Hospital\u201d\u2014actually makes a rather old-fashioned and cozy impression, everything has a somewhat provincial, even slightly romantic air.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The narrative style is oddly intricate in many places. Klein jumps back and forth in time and between perspectives, illuminating a situation from several angles before finally getting to the point. At times I found this cumbersome and a bit long-winded. There\u2019s no noteworthy arc of suspense; rather, the story proceeds quite steadily. I was never bored, though, and as a reader you constantly ask yourself where it\u2019s all heading\u2014how these separate strands come together and how the many small fragments he tells and hints at belong to one another.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The book has a mood all its own that struck me as somehow muted, a little oppressive, yet at the same time relaxed\u2014an odd mixture that\u2019s hard to capture in words. However inhospitable this world is, however saturated it may be with war and the aftershocks of an apocalypse, many small incidents and situations feel conciliatory. For me, this adds up to a story set in a world unto itself\u2014one that ventures a glimpse of a fictitious future without telling it fully or yielding a detailed picture. I can\u2019t find a \u201cmessage\u201d in the book\u2014or at least it doesn\u2019t force itself upon me. Some characters also seem superfluous; they may offer insights into the culture of the two societies, but they aren\u2019t supporting, let alone necessary, pillars of the narrative.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Conclusion:<\/strong> This visually gorgeous book is a tour de force<\/em> of book art. Design, color, typeface, and cover harmonize with the content and reflect it in an artful way. In terms of content, it offers a pleasantly readable dystopia with a mood all its own\u2014somehow post-apocalyptic, cozy, inhospitable, threatening, and conciliatory. Klein\u2019s narrative style is intricate and unhurried, and from a character-centered perspective it creates an improbable yet coherent vision of the future. Die Zukunft des Mars<\/em> is certainly one of the most unusual books I\u2019ve read this year. Even if a clear \u201cpoint\u201d and breathless suspense curves are absent, it\u2019s an entertaining read that suits a relaxed winter season quite well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Book information: <\/strong>Die Zukunft des Mars \u2022 Georg Klein \u2022 Rowohlt \u2022 384 pages \u2022 ISBN 9783498035341<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lately I\u2019ve been on the lookout for beautiful books. Of course, a handsome exterior isn\u2019t decisive\u2014what\u2019s the point of reading something you don\u2019t feel like reading just because the book looks chic? Let me reassure you right here: I won\u2019t start showcasing fancy book covers; my focus remains squarely on what you find between the … <\/p>\n![\"Die](\"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/die_zukunft_des_mars_1.jpg\")
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