”This is something very exciting, and important, that is being revealed. If you could hear it, it would sound a bit like a song. A stifled lament, from the days of Titus to the French architect Valadier’s restoration of his triumphal arch in the 19th century, and all the way to the Jewish diaspora of the Holocaust… Einhorn unveils the past so that the long lines become visible.”
Ulrika Kärnborg, Expressen
”It is impressive how Einhorn manages to compress such a massive historical material into a reasonably coherent narrative. She does this by structuring it around a number of geographical
and symbolic points of gravity – primarily Jerusalem and Rome. It is a successful move.”
Johanna Käck, Dagens Nyheter
”What gives the book an unmistakable charm is that Einhorn writes in the present tense, from within her characters – like the desperate survivor standing among the ruins of Jerusalem, or in the book’s most dizzying and unpleasant scene: Hitler on the platform in Rome in 1938, seeking his own mirror image in Mussolini’s short but, as he perceives it, commanding figure… ”The Arch of Titus” is an exciting novel about how a piece of art can create connections across two thousand years, and be a symptom of people’s delusions of grandeur.”
Sinziana Ravini, Aftonbladet
”The ingenious idea of building a point house from history without transport routes between the blocks makes the book playfully easy to read, and accessible even to those who are completely unversed in the events that are recounted. Those who know history get new perspectives and depth… The settings and the sequences of events are produced with such a sure pen that my imagination places me in them… anyone who thirsts for knowledge about the Arch of Titus’s vast tentacles through time and space has found exactly the right book.”
Martina Montelius, Göteborgs-Posten
”There is every reason to be impressed by the inspired and knowledge-filled approach, and I think that Einhorn’s purpose lies far beyond the arch – in a present characterized by use of control, political propaganda, abuse of power and religious conflicts, it can be thought-provoking to remind oneself of how history constantly repeats itself.”
Kersti Westin, Alingsås Tidning
“The Arch of Titus becomes a symbol whose meaning changes with history. The approach is both original and effective. The common denominator is not a person or an era but a monument that is constantly reinterpreted. At the same time, the book raises questions about the conditions of the non-fiction novel… The non-fiction novel exists in the interplay between document and poetry. When the boundary between documented history and literary representation becomes unclear, the reader risks losing his footing. But this is also where The Arch of Titus becomes most thought-provoking – not only as a historical story but also as a reflection on how history can be written and understood.”
Bo Eriksson, Populär Historia
