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A review by dustyloup
Heimat: A German Family Album by Nora Krug
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
En français ci-dessous
If you're looking for a story with a lot of action and an ending wrapped up neatly with a bow, look elsewhere. If you are interested in a personal story that struggles with identity, guilt, shame in a left and right brained way, you belong here. This book is hard to describe - graphic memoir comes closest, but it's a mix between graphic novel/memoir, scrapbook, children's book, that stack of photos and papers that you have hidden somewhere in your house because you just can't f-ing cope with them, and an archivist's tabletop.
As an American I have struggled with my country's history in the same way the author struggles with her German heritage, but with the double shame of being told I "should" be proud of being an American while living with an awareness of the horrible things my country has done. Even in elementary school I understood that "liberty and justice for all" was a story and not reality.
Then I, like Ms. Krug moved to another country. We went in opposite directions, but the same feeling of not being at home where you are, but also not being at home with where you are from. I find it too bad that some editions of this book are called "Belonging" instead of "Heimat", because it takes away from the fact that some concepts can really only be understood from one's native tongue and sometimes "le mot juste" comes from another language than the one in which you are writing. Another thing that bugs me is that the Heimat version has the figure on the cover looking forward, the Belonging version (and the French version) have the face looking to the side. I guess having the person's back to you might seem cold but to me it's about trying to move forward, not just looking back.
The book ends with so many questions unresolved and you may wonder, what was the point of it all?, yet that's the beauty of the book for me. There are no complete answers. There is no satisfactory way to process that your ancestor was a "follower". There is no way to close the can of worms once you open it. Once you start calling into question the Truth, there is no turning back, there is no THE END. I would love to see a sequel of her processing American myths or even her husband's family history. "Liberty and justice FOR ALL" - are you so sure about that?
Pas une traduction, juste mes pensées en français...
Evidemment 5* veut dire que c'était un coup de coeur. Ce livre m'a tellement touché avec son questionnement de l'identité (national et personnel), le sentiment d'appartenir à un lieu ou à un groupe et qui suis-je quand je quitte mon pays. Ai-je le droit d'aimer mon pays quand il est associé lorsqu'elle est associée aux pires atrocités jamais commises ? En tant qu'Américaine expatriée, je me pose la même question. On ne trouve pas de réponses faciles dans ce livre mais un découpage de mémoire, histoire, culpabilité et curiosité. J'aimerais bien lire un livre comme cela écrit par un.e français.e qui fait face à son histoire coloniale ou bien un.e américain.e faisant la même pour comprendre le rôle de sa famille dans l'esclavage. Mais je ne sais pas si je trouverais un roman ou BD tellement bien écrit que celui-ci. "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" En êtes-vous sûr qu'un membre de ta famille n'a jamais enfreint la liberté d'une autre personne ? On est vraiment solidaires ?
If you're looking for a story with a lot of action and an ending wrapped up neatly with a bow, look elsewhere. If you are interested in a personal story that struggles with identity, guilt, shame in a left and right brained way, you belong here. This book is hard to describe - graphic memoir comes closest, but it's a mix between graphic novel/memoir, scrapbook, children's book, that stack of photos and papers that you have hidden somewhere in your house because you just can't f-ing cope with them, and an archivist's tabletop.
As an American I have struggled with my country's history in the same way the author struggles with her German heritage, but with the double shame of being told I "should" be proud of being an American while living with an awareness of the horrible things my country has done. Even in elementary school I understood that "liberty and justice for all" was a story and not reality.
Then I, like Ms. Krug moved to another country. We went in opposite directions, but the same feeling of not being at home where you are, but also not being at home with where you are from. I find it too bad that some editions of this book are called "Belonging" instead of "Heimat", because it takes away from the fact that some concepts can really only be understood from one's native tongue and sometimes "le mot juste" comes from another language than the one in which you are writing. Another thing that bugs me is that the Heimat version has the figure on the cover looking forward, the Belonging version (and the French version) have the face looking to the side. I guess having the person's back to you might seem cold but to me it's about trying to move forward, not just looking back.
The book ends with so many questions unresolved and you may wonder, what was the point of it all?, yet that's the beauty of the book for me. There are no complete answers. There is no satisfactory way to process that your ancestor was a "follower". There is no way to close the can of worms once you open it. Once you start calling into question the Truth, there is no turning back, there is no THE END. I would love to see a sequel of her processing American myths or even her husband's family history. "Liberty and justice FOR ALL" - are you so sure about that?
Pas une traduction, juste mes pensées en français...
Evidemment 5* veut dire que c'était un coup de coeur. Ce livre m'a tellement touché avec son questionnement de l'identité (national et personnel), le sentiment d'appartenir à un lieu ou à un groupe et qui suis-je quand je quitte mon pays. Ai-je le droit d'aimer mon pays quand il est associé lorsqu'elle est associée aux pires atrocités jamais commises ? En tant qu'Américaine expatriée, je me pose la même question. On ne trouve pas de réponses faciles dans ce livre mais un découpage de mémoire, histoire, culpabilité et curiosité. J'aimerais bien lire un livre comme cela écrit par un.e français.e qui fait face à son histoire coloniale ou bien un.e américain.e faisant la même pour comprendre le rôle de sa famille dans l'esclavage. Mais je ne sais pas si je trouverais un roman ou BD tellement bien écrit que celui-ci. "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" En êtes-vous sûr qu'un membre de ta famille n'a jamais enfreint la liberté d'une autre personne ? On est vraiment solidaires ?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide
There are a couple of disturbing images of the Holocaust in here, but not that many and they fit into the context of the story. I think she carefully chose the images to correspond with the story that she was exploring and not just for shock value.