Sommerhaus, später.

By Judith Hermann

Book Overview

In nine luminous stories of love and loss, loneliness and hope, Judith Hermann's stunning debut collection paints a vivid and poignant picture of a generation ready and anxious to turn their back on the past, to risk uncertainty in search of a fresh, if fragile, equilibrium. An international bestseller and translated into twelve languages, Summerhouse, Later heralds the arrival of one of Germanys most arresting new literary talents.

A restless man hopes to find permanence in the purchase of a summerhouse outside Berlin. A young girl, trapped in a paralyzing web of family stories and secrets, finally manages to break free. A granddaughter struggles to lay her grandmother's ghosts to rest. A successful and simplistic artist becomes inexplicably obsessed with an elusive and strangely sinister young girl.

Against the backdrop of contemporary Berlin, possibly Europe's most vibrant and exhilarating city, Hermann's characters are as kaleidoscopic and extraordinary as their metropolis, united mostly in a furious and dogged pursuit of the elusive specter of "living in the moment." They're people who, in one way or another, constantly challenge the madness of the modern world and whose dreams of transcending the ordinary for that "narrow strip of sky over the rooftops" are deeply felt and perfectly rendered.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060006862
• ISBN13: 9780060006860
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

:)

It's true that there seem to be no conclusion in the stories. However, the stories are original, and the depictions of the environments are beautiful. The stories are dream-like.

Magnificent , descriptive and yet remote

This book is set of short stories translated from German. I am not sure whether it is the authors gift or this gift in combination with the translation which give these stories their sense of remoteness and in some cases alienation. In most fiction, the author strives to involve the reader as closely as possible with the character and the narrative, however in these stories, the reader is held at a remove, the characters seem to carry on almost in suspended animation and at times the stories do not work towards an understandable conclusion. However for all that, they are magnificent, memorable and thought provoking. I won't say more, read them