From: Marion Namenwirth <namenwir@umn.edu> [Edit Address Book]
To: ernstmeyer@earthlink.net
Subject: Doering
Date: Apr 28, 2013 10:50 PM

Dear Jochen, 

 

I have been reading the beginning of Doering II with fascination.  When I began on page 18 to read about Bessie, as you suggested, I quickly wanted to know what it said on page 17.  And leaping  backwards in this way, I soon arrived at page 1, and have been making my way forward from there with great enthusiasm.  I even plunged into the end of volume I to find out how Doering and Dorothea?s long week-end together had worked out, but that proved too time consuming for now (though I checked out chapters I and VII to assure myself that those chapters I had read before are indeed from ?Doering?.)

 

I am easily drawn into the story, and find your imaginings about what these characters think about and worry about inside their heads, novel and engaging and often hilarious.  It?s most inventive that you have Dorothea wondering whether Doering was precipitously infected with craziness by conversing attentatively with the crazy guy they met, or whether it isn?t more likely that Doering was already pre-disposed to craziness. At any rate, I find your novel most engaging.

 

One addition you might consider making to the Doering volumes, is to give them each a Table of Contents, preferably including a descriptive title for each chapter.  This would make it easier for the reader to navigate through the story and find things that (s)he dimly remembers.

 

Marion