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Heimsuchung (2000)

by Jenny Erpenbeck(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

3821857730 (ISBN13: 9783821857732)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

review 1: So many of my GR friends had rated this highly. I decided to take a chance on it, even though it is written in fragments and translated. The translation didn't mar the book. It was still beautifully poetic. And I also love books in which the house is a main focus. It, too, was wonderfully described. But the story? The book as a novel? I dunno. Should one need to read the book again from the beginning to understand more of who the characters are when being thrown into a new chapter? Names are vague. Pronouns are prominent. Just couldn't figure out how to read it. Steam of consciousness? Sometimes. But never in the "I" sense. Historical fiction? In an odd sense. A fresh and new literary style? Not really that either. I GOT that all the inhabitants of the house were just visi... moretors. But it wasn't like a series of families buying and selling. People would be forced to leave and then one of them would return. Usually the ones who returned were peripheral characters to a previous narrative, but not always. There were also neighbors weaving themselves into the narrative. Were they necessary? What did they symbolize? Perhaps, along with the Russian occupiers, they represented unknown elements that cause a house to deteriorate and weather. Like dry rot. Even the gardener, or caretaker, who never left or changed was just a visitor on earth. Nothing man physically creates is forever. Not buildings. Not plants or gardens. The natural geographical features of land and sea may remain much the same, or, perhaps change slowly over time. The book was short. It too, seemed just a visitor, as I read it over the course of one leisurely summer day.
review 2: This is one of the most moving novels I have read. It is rhythmic, poetic and just a delight to read. The ever present gardner, cultivating, working and caring, provides the much needed stability in the ever changing surrounding circumstances. The very notions of 'home' and ownership are ruptured; we are fleeting spots on an otherwise perfect natural environment. The descriptions are worth giving the luxury of re-reading again and again. Very very powerful and I will seek out further translations by this excellent author. less

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