A review by hellowormemoji
Not a Novel: A Memoir in Pieces by Jenny Erpenbeck

dark funny hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

first section was five stars. other sections def had some five star moments, though they were redundant the way lecture series often are after a certain point. there are only so many ways you can ask for hope and awareness and recall the same history — though perhaps the bit of this collection is that there are many ways you can recall the same history and we must exhaust them all?

how interesting to experience years and years of life and then to recall enough to write them in post. do i have that capability? does not feel so. perhaps the closeness and attention of erpenbeck’s memory is what makes this so fascinating to read.