It's all about the story. This book has some questionable plot points and characters, but getting wrapped up in the rainy world of that little village by the river and beyond was very engaging. It was outrageous at times, but some of that looniness (aunt Kayla, sleepy Igor) fits with the insanity of that time, and proved to nearly make you forget the real world, the real story of the encroaching enemy. When the brutality of the real world comes knocking, though, we are reminded who was really crazy. Rich with folklore and characters who could have been the characters from the Old Country of my own story. This felt personal, like a story that was already part of her (and in an author's note at the end, she says as much), so am curious to see what this author does next. A Jewish village in romania seeks to isolate itself from the horrors of ww2 and cuts itself off from the wider world. As they start a new existence they are made more aware of all that is precious and important. It is in loss that they get to name and claim all that binds them together. But they cannot hold the war at bay forever and the coherence of what they created gets blown to a thousand fragments, new journeys and new revelations, which only some survive. Wonderfully and intricately written.
What do You think about Der Anfang Der Welt (2012)?
This book is poetry.Good books write emotions into words.This book turns words into emotion.
—bookmind101
I found this book to be beautiful in prose but pretentious in plot.
—QueenSuSu
