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The Giraffe's Neck (2011)

by Judith Schalansky(Favorite Author)

3.24 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1620403382 (ISBN13: 9781620403389)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Bloomsbury USA

review 1: The tale of a teacher nearing the end of her tether as the World as she has known it crumbles around her. It interests me that most reviewers found Frau Lohmark – the narrator, a middle-aged high school biology teacher in the former East Germany – entirely unsympathetic. I found the ruminations on nature, biology and human relationships from an observer in a moribund town, in a dying school with a collapsed marriage and a severed relationship with a daughter who lives far away actually quite moving.Indeed, Inge Lohmark is an unsympathetic character, but surely only the hardest heart cannot see the longing for Erika – a seemingly plain girl in her class – represents the last grasp at humanity for our narrator. Indeed, her ‘cracking up’ despite the rigidity of he... morer views and biologically determined worldview demonstrates her better qualities.Perhaps many of those who struggled to enjoy this book might have more actively considered the frame of reference of a woman born, schooled and raised in the East German system and struggling to adapt to rapid change that contradicts everything that she knows: professionally, politically and personally. I found it desperately sad and real. Funny at points, ultimately the extent of Frau Lohmark’s alienation is tragic.To be sure, this is an understated book. The action, tension, emotion and dark humour exists under a surface a melancholic rumination. It positively reeks of decay and the kind of gloom only known by those who’ve felt history has left behind. Any reader that fails to be moved by the reveal at the end of the book and final rallying call to those students left behind has surely missed much.I should also note the excellent translation by Shaun Whiteside. There was barely a wrong note in capturing a unique voice and tone.
review 2: Het doet me denken aan Bittere bloemen van Jeroen Brouwers op een of andere manier. Droog, gewoon en dagelijks, vanuit innerlijk beschreven blik op de wereld, spaart niemand, erg ´Nederlands´, ongetwijfeld iets waar de critici mee weglopen.Goed geschreven, maar vrij onsympathiek hoofdpersonage, wiens neerbuigende blik me soms op de zenuwen werkt. Maar dan toch weer zo knap dat ik doorlees. De termen rechtsboven de pagina´s vind ik geen meerwaarde hebben. De tekeningen wel. Korte zinnen leuk, maar wordt soms te ver doorgevoerd. less

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