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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Known for her success as a screenwriter for Netflix Germany, Annette Hess bravely tackles a story centering on a trial for Nazi war criminals in her first novel The German House. Young Eva has never heard of the Holocaust when she is called on to translate the testimony of Polish survivors. Predictably, her parents were much more intimately connected and have worked hard to shield her and their other children from the truth even though they lived next to Auschwitz during the war. The mundane twists slowly lead to Eva’s full awakening and decision to leave her parents for good. Side plots featuring an older sister who poisons babies and a fiancée who is torn between wanting to become a priest and marry Eva detract from any gravitas the central story manages to muster. Are all Germans guilty by association? Hess responds with the lame reply, “It’s hard to be human.”⠀
I found this book very enjoyable. I have read a lot of WW2 history and fiction set in that period. This story is different in that it deals with the first postwar generation of Germans who were infants during the war and have forgotten what really happened. Their parents have reinvented themselves and their family history. As one character puts it most of Eva's generation act like a bunch of aliens in brown shirts descended on Germany for the duration of WW2 and carried out terrible acts which most Germans were not complicit in. Gradually the main character, Eva begins to question her family's role in the events of WW2 and her memories begin to surface. This is set against the background of the Frankfurt trials which were the first trials set in Germany almost 20 yeas after Nuremburg. The book also deals with the role of women after marriage and the thorny isue of women working outside the home. However I found it difficult to understand the motivation of the older sister Annegret, her boyfriend and the story if David was never resolved properly I felt. All said I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author.
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Didn’t enjoy it at first, but it picked up. Found it moving, was left unresolved and not necessarily completely happy, which was good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Murder
A young woman in 1960s Germany learns hard truths about her country and her own family while working as translator at a war crimes trial. An unusual take on a well-worn topic, with a protagonist who shows personal growth.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This had the potential to be interesting ... too bad it wasn't. The first 3/4 of the books dragged and the last 1/4 felt boring. The book had potential - it's about the trials in Germany where a lot of high ranking SS officers get their punishment. The main character Eva is asked to join the trials because they need a German Polish transator and she knows the language. Throughout the trial she discovers that her own parents were involved, they also lived in the Auschwitz and her father was the cook for Nazis. She doesn't exactly forgive them by the end of the book but at least we learn why they were so against her translating on the trials. Her sister copes with trauma by eating a ton of food and by poisoning the babies she works with at the hospital with cholera, so she can then save them and be thanked - one of the doctors discoveres that but instead of reporting her or helping her seek help he marries her and they move away to another town - that felt so wrong on so many levels. The only character I cared about was David, but it turns out that he was lying part way through the book and he is assumed dead before the end - I wish that Eva and David ended up together by the end because I hated jorgen with passion and I didn't find myself rooting for them at all - so when they are together again at the end of the book instead of going ooh finally I am so happy for them I found myself cringing and groaning because I loathed this man - he is controlling and constantly jealous and speaking in her name, he goes behind her back and demands that they remove her from the trials and he is just generally a weird guy - granted we learn about some of the trauma that caused that towards the end of the book but I didn't really find myself caring, I didn't really care about any of the characters in fact even the victims because they are barely in the story. Overall, one of my if not my least favourite book about holocaust.
A história em si é boa, mas a personagem principal é fracamente desenvolvida, não gostei do seu percurso na história e não consegui criar empatia com ela. Além disso, o final é fraco e sem sentido, deixando coisas em aberto que não se entendem. As personagens secundárias também podiam ser bastante melhores e vários aspetos podiam ser muito melhor esclarecidos.
Ainda assim, é uma leitura emocionante e crua, tendo em conta o tema do livro, deixando-nos angustiados.
Ainda assim, é uma leitura emocionante e crua, tendo em conta o tema do livro, deixando-nos angustiados.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated