Recommendations from our site
“Siblings is a mind-blowing novel first published in German in 1963. It has recently been translated into English by Lucy Jones, who is a phenomenal translator. It has everything you want from a book, and a bonus is – it’s short. It’s about siblings living in East Germany. While the brother decides to flee across the border into West Germany, the sister is convinced that the world they live in is great. The book is narrated by the sister, an artist who paints for the Party. The novel questions the meaning of art and whether art can still be considered art when it is controlled by someone other than the artist. Reimann, who was herself a state-sponsored artist living in the GDR, had grappled with the same questions about whether to leave or to stay. Her protagonist realizes that in a life that does not have peaks and troughs and which simply ticks along, there’s a sense of contentment to be found. When the Wall came down, it came as a shock to the East Germans for many reasons. One of these reasons is that life had become so comfortable.” Read more...
Our most recommended books
-
Kairos
by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann -
Tomb of Sand
by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell -
The Details: A Novel
by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson -
Cursed Bunny
by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur -
A New Name: Septology VI-VII
by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls -
Heaven
by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd
