161. (September 2026) The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach (also called The Hair Carpet Weavers ) — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q5: Theme

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:59:54 +0000

What's the main theme of the novel? How does the novel explore this theme? How does it leave you feeling about the theme?

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q2: Structure and effects on Characters and Setting

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:52:07 +0000

What did you think of the structure of this book? The back cover endorsements on my Penguin Classics SF edition both call it a novel. What did you think? How did you feel about the flow of the story?

I think any question about the characters and setting ties right into the structure. Obviously these were both lightly drawn. Did you get on with the characters and setting? Any thoughts on the depth and breadth of these elements?

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q3: Translation

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:54:43 +0000

The author, Andreas Eschbach, is German. Could you tell? Did any 'German' character come through (so far as you might imagine it)? If you didn't know this was a translation, could you have guessed?

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q6: Implications of all this for Gaming?

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:02:14 +0000

What's good here for you gaming use? How does this compare to your own gaming, in either setting or scenario design? Can you think of a game system that might capture the important elements of this novel?

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q4: The Scale of the Tale

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:58:11 +0000

The novel starts at quite a small scale, zoomed in on particular people in a particular place who are focussed on a particular thing. It stays close to this scale for a time, but like a parabolic curve the scale begins to zoom out, slowly at first, the quite quickly. What did you think of this approach? Was it effective?

The Hair-Carpet Weavers Q1: Overall Impressions

Apocryphal — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:46:34 +0000

What were your overall impressions of this book? Did it remind you of other works? How would you classify it within the body of SF?

About The Carpet Makers (also called The Hair Carpet Weavers)

RichardAbbott — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 21:14:46 +0000

In a distant universe, since the beginning of time, workers have spent their lives weaving intricate carpets from the hair of women and girls. But why? Andreas Eschbach's mysterious, poignant space opera explores the absurdity of work and of life itself.

'A novel of ideas that evokes complex emotions through the working out of an intricate and ultimately satisfying plot, with echoes of Gene Wolfe, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Isaac Asimov' The New York Times Book Review

About Andreas Eschbach

RichardAbbott — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 21:16:33 +0000

Andreas Eschbach studied aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart and later founded his own IT consulting company before becoming a full-time writer. Several of his novels, including The Jesus Video and One Trillion Dollars, became nationwide bestsellers in Germany. He has been awarded both the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis, Germany's most prestigious science fiction award for best science fiction novel, and the Deutscher Science Fiction Preis several times. The Carpetmakers, his only other book translated into English, was listed as one of the best science fiction books of 2005 by www.sfsite.com and recommended by Locus Magazine. In 2002, his novel Jesus Video was adapted for German television. He lives with his wife in Brittany, France.

Photo Credit: Olivier Favre