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Scherbenpark (2008)

by Alina Bronsky(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

3462040308 (ISBN13: 9783462040302)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fiction

publisher

Kiepenheuer & Witsch

review 1: russian girl growing up in w germany, and her many setbacks and tenacious will to succeed, succeed better than any damn else. bronsky's 1st novel and 1st novel to be translated to englsih (by tim mohr!) and was nominated for big prize in europe (though fairly unknown in usa, cuz usa sucks? or maybe we just like meyer/rowling/james/james patterson better, cuz we;re the best? her "tartar cuisine" even better than this, and this coming of age story is fantastic in its tensions and grit.
review 2: Alina Bronsky created a young heroine that readers connect with from the very first page. Sascha Naimann is 17, was born in Russia and immigrated to Germany as a child. She now lives in a run-down housing complex for immigrants in an non-discript suburb of Frankfurt. She... more is fiercly protective of her young brother and sister and dreams of killing her stepfather and writing a book about her mother: “The Story Of An Idiotic Redheaded Women Who Would Still Be Alive If Only She Had Listened To Her Smart Oldest Daughter”. From the very first page on Sascha is brutally honest telling us her own story. Her language is at once cristal-clear and perceptive, sensitive and sarcastic, tender and rough. Like Sascha herself who at this young age is full of contrasts. She is strong and very vulnerable, precocious and smart, sensitive and yet strangely distant from her own feelings. Definitely not a one-dimensional character! It’s this honesty that makes her so believable and likeable for the reader. There is no room for embellishments or verbosity, neither in Sascha’s live nor in the book. I love how the precise and concise writing style reflects Sascha’s personality and her fast-paced life. It’s full of energy and leaves me breathless. Her story takes some surprising turns but almost always remains true to the character. Only towards the end of the book the story looses some of its initial momentum and Sascha and her story drift into rather trivial teenage melodrama.The protagonist is a young adult of 17 years but this is more an adult than a young adult book. While the story seems unusual at first it connects so well with the reader because Sascha’s journey is at the root one that all of us go through - the journey to find and realize the dreams for your life, to find a place to belong, to find love. less

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