Uwe Johnson, Anniversaries
The book covers the period from fall 1967 to the middle of 1968. Things happen in it, world-shatteringly important things. But if you're reading one day at a time, as I am, it takes forever for things to happen. MLK is shot, but the effects build slowly. It's not a sledgehammer, it's the feeling of being in a room slowly filling with water, no escape possible. (Then there are things like the Tet Offensive, which show up, but not with nearly the retrospective importance they will have.) There's a lot going on in Czechoslovakia, and I know it will end badly for them, but they don't know that yet. (They should not be surprised it will end badly for them. "Everyone is killed and/or sent to jail" and "the bad government is overthrown and some small progress is made" look very similar for a long time.)
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