by Jenny Erpenbeck
My ‘adviser’ at the Mr B’s Book Spa recommended this book. I didn’t buy it then and there, because I wanted to read it in the original language. So I ordered a secondhand copy and started reading almost a year later.
This proved to be a very good recommendation. The word Heimsuchung is impossible to translate in its many nuances, but “visitation” goes some way to doing it justice. The main ‘character’ in this book is a house, or more precisely, a property bordering on a lake in the eastern part of what is now Germany, not far from the Polish border. (The German word Heim also means “home”).
Through successive owners, some of them generations of a family, others new people coming into the property, we see the development of a lakeside summer home along the lines of a Russian Dacha, to an architect-designed and very imposing house still retaining some rustic touches. In the Nazi time the owners are able to expand their property by buying up land belonging to their (Jewish) neighbours, but as WW2 progresses they bury their valuables and hide from the Russia occupying soldiers. In post-war years under the GDR, the house is restored under new occupation. Later still, after the Wende, the previous owner returns and has to make restitution for some earlier gains. Ultimately the house falls into disrepair and is acquired by a property developer who promptly demolishes it, following strict guidelines for recycling and reuse of various parts of the construction.
The house and its land, then, are the means by which Erpernbeck tells the sweeping story of a hundred years of German history in one slim volume. I think this will make an interesting subject for our book group, and propose to put it forward when next asked to recommend a book.
A rug and a book 