Jenny Erpenbeck is a German writer whose Visitation is the story of Germany as seen through the lives of the residents of one house. (She's also stunningly beautiful, but that's neither here nor there.) The characters are largely tragic, mirroring the calamitous twentieth century in their country. To give full vent to the disaster befalling them, the location of the house had to be in East Germany, for after the wars, there was also the bestiality of Communism to keep its residents occupied. Erpenbeck has a lovely touch (and the translation is lyrical, too) and the stories of ache and loss and love and family are superbly interleaved. Really enjoyed this, packed a lot into such a small amount of pages - the passing of time, sense of place, the repetitious nature of life, and how the physical world evolves and changes when influenced by different people yet always remains a constant when removed from the context of those people's experiences. At no time in the book does the author assume you are a dunce, instead small details are weaved in to the tale to hint as to links between characters and places. Almost none of the characters are named, and it's up to you to piece those details together to get the most out of this story. All in all, a very nice surprise from a book I picked up on a whim.
What do You think about Di Passaggio (2008)?
Couldn't get into this book at all... weird, because so many other people loved it.
—becki
book clubConfusing - not really sure what what happening particular at the end.
—Popi25748
German history told through the story of one house. Compelling and sad.
—amelie_poulain
I`ve just started to read this book...let me tel in one week...
—Nick
