Angel Down (Pulitzer Prize Winner) A Novel

I have read and watched my fair share of war-stories. The remarkable, almost mystefied horrors which surround the "war that to end all wars" aka World War I provide a banquet of tellings and re-tellings in various perspectives and styles. Once I read the premise of "Angel Down", my interest was immediately piqued; and is safe to say that I have never read a novel quite like it. One might be skeptical about the unusual writing style - I can't lie, even I raised an eyebrow when I read that the novel is supposedly written in one continuous sentence. Luckily, you get used to this style very quickly. I can even say, it bleeds remarkably well into the novel's setting: The chaos, the uncertainty, the desperation. Daniel Kraus is an incredibly visual writer. The horrors which unfold throughout the protagonist's odyssey across the trenches are visceral and disturbing. Reality and fantasy blur as the war and the mysterious creature which the soldiers call the angel apprehend their sense of rationality, and even sanity. It is because of the story's unpredictability I was sucked in instantly and I couldn't pull away. The story is a continuous downward spiral into hell (metaphorically and literally). "Angel Down" stuck with me after I finished reading, and some images still creep into my mind from time to time. To anyone who enjoys well-executed, unconventional horror - this is for you!

The unimaginable horros of World War I are set in stark contrast to a literal angel falling from the heavens over france. A cast of doomed losers set out to rescue this angel and are confronted by the worst - and the best - humanity has to offer. Daniel Kraus swallows us up and spits us out, not a single full stop in the whole novel, just horror after horror after horror. Everybody who has the stomach for it should read this book. Can we as humans overcome the need for senseless slaughter and can faith really save us, or will it lead us further astray.

and Kraus has crafted a remarkable war novel. World War I has often been a topic of novels. It was labeled the birthplace of modern world and traumatic. Kraus puts the spotlight on the psychologically architecture of the war. At the same time the prose is relentless and surreal. The single run-on sentence gives the narrative a impressive sense of urgency and immediacy. Being broken into paragraphs so the reader won't be hit by a wall of text. The tension is build with the rhythm of his writing to create the feeling of non-stop action. By this effect one can visualise the scenery. The battlefield and trenches appear right in front of the reader. Kraus has managed some of the most visceral pacing and prose out there. The vivid writing portrays the violence. 'Angel down' is both an experiment, beautiful and powerful. Although the end is ambiguous it leaves you with a zillion of questions concerning the meaning of life. The novel forcefully shows war is not an exception of civilisation but the mere consequence of it. This novel winning a Pulitzer is extraordinary, since its not an easy read. It declines a classical plot and is ambigious in every aspect. and I am glad it won a Pulitzer.

This book is maybe the most brutal and visceral depiction of war that I have ever read. Kraus blends the real terror of Word War 1 with supernatural horror into a story that is simply breathtaking and utterly devastating. It shows that in war human beings stop being human and become cogs in a machine that only fabricates death and destruction. This is another perfect example of what - if done right - the horror genre is capable of. One of the weirdest books of the year an a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize.