Jenny Erpenbeck tells the history of a single house by a lake in Brandenburg, east of Berlin, and the people who lived there across a century. She follows the successive owners and tenants through the Weimar years, the Nazi period, the postwar division of Germany, and reunification, while a gardener, who appears throughout, tends the grounds. The Jewish neighbors, a returning exile, and a Soviet officer all pass through. Chapters are short, and the house stays while its inhabitants lose their homes or are forced out.
Readers of German fiction and twentieth-century history will find a compact, stylized novel about belonging and displacement. It rewards slow reading, and suits those who like novels built from fragments and who enjoy a strong sense of place.
Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- ISBN
- 9783821857732
- Language
- DE
