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A review by bgg616
Love Notes from a German Building Site by Adrian Duncan
4.0
This unusual novel is set in contemporary Berlin. An out-of-work Irish building engineer goes to Berlin with his Irish girlfriend, whose parents are emigrants to Ireland. This is a highly unusual novel, which was a perfect read for me. It partly focuses on language - learning it, using it in a specialized work environment, and the "peculiarities" of German. As a multilingual person, and a linguist, this aspect of the novel was greatly appealing.
As a toddler, I simultaneously learned English and German. My father was a military officer stationed in Bremen. In order to support employment of German citizens in the post-was environment, three monolingual Germans were assigned to my father - a driver, a gardener, and a housekeepers. They were the source of my German knowledge. We also spent two more years in Germany when I was 11-12 years old, and we had daily German lessons in our DOD (Department of Defense) school. Although I can follow social conversations to some extent now, Duncan's description of communication on his worksite reminded me that it is a challenging language. I have also learned that despite being fluent in Spanish for daily communication, a well as my academic field, when I have Spanish-speaking contractors at my house I tell them I do not know the names of many of the things related to household repairs (many I don't know in English).
This novel creates an impression of Berlin, although most of the main character Paul's experiences of Berlin involved drinking coffee, and beer, and visiting museums with his girlfriend. He has a deep affection for her, and being in Germany exposes other facets of her personality, and skills. Paul struggles on the worksite, with unreasonable demands and deadlines.
This may not be a book that immediately appeals to some readers, but it is indeed a gem.
As a toddler, I simultaneously learned English and German. My father was a military officer stationed in Bremen. In order to support employment of German citizens in the post-was environment, three monolingual Germans were assigned to my father - a driver, a gardener, and a housekeepers. They were the source of my German knowledge. We also spent two more years in Germany when I was 11-12 years old, and we had daily German lessons in our DOD (Department of Defense) school. Although I can follow social conversations to some extent now, Duncan's description of communication on his worksite reminded me that it is a challenging language. I have also learned that despite being fluent in Spanish for daily communication, a well as my academic field, when I have Spanish-speaking contractors at my house I tell them I do not know the names of many of the things related to household repairs (many I don't know in English).
This novel creates an impression of Berlin, although most of the main character Paul's experiences of Berlin involved drinking coffee, and beer, and visiting museums with his girlfriend. He has a deep affection for her, and being in Germany exposes other facets of her personality, and skills. Paul struggles on the worksite, with unreasonable demands and deadlines.
This may not be a book that immediately appeals to some readers, but it is indeed a gem.