The Summer House, Later

by Margot Bettauer Dembo (Translator), Margot Bettauer Dembo (Translator), Judith Hermann (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2001

  $12.47

  'This book is about the moment before happiness' Marcel Reich-Ranicki At long last, there is a very stimulating, stylish, entertaining new generation of German authors just emerging who are keen to tell good stories and have very good stories to tell, stories that will travel, stories that are not about the war, stories that are not paralysed by introspection. And the hottest young star of them all is Judith Hermann. Her debut, The Summerhouse, Later, has been the literary sensation of the year in Germany; so far it has sold over 200,000 copies. Hermann herself is an enigmatic, charismatic, sad-eyed creature whose languid manner and idiosyncratic remarks have only contributed to her aura. She's quite something -- dare I say the German Zadie Smith? And her book is principally set in what must be the most exciting city in Europe right now -- Berlin; and it's about an entirely new, young breed of German, possessed of a kind of attitude that that country has never seen before. This is the first time in ten years that Flamingo has cared this much about anything in German. The book itself is sly, measured, chic, moving and reflective -- imagine a Geman version of Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies (of which we've now sold over 40,000 copies in B-format).

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $9.48

  The bestselling voice of Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city: the new Berlin.

  `The little jewellery box also held the red coral bracelet from Nikolai Sergeyevich. Its six hundred and seventy-five little coral beads were strung onto a silken thread, and they glowed as red as rage. My great-grandmother put the hairbrush down in her lap. She closed her eyes for a long time. Then she opened her eyes again, took the red coral bracelet from the little box and fastened it around her left wrist. Her skin was very white. That evening, for the first time in three years, she shared a meal with my great-grandfather.'

  Coral bracelets `as red as rage' from Russian lovers; a sad old woman who nonetheless `sometimes sang and winked with her left eye and laughed till the tears came'; country houses `away from Berlin, linden trees out front, chestnuts in the back, sky above': `The Summer House, Later' is an elegant, measured, reflective collection of stories which captures beautifully the promise of bright colours lying just out of reach of our grey daily routines.

  Set in and around Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city, these stories take as their starting point the monotony of modern urban life - the endless antennas and chimneys, the pigeons in the gutters - and looks beyond them to `the narrow strip of sky over the rooftops'. The literary sensation of the year in her native Germany, Judith Hermann is a wonderfully talented young writer whose ability to find drama and beauty in the smallest, most trivial moments makes `The Summer House, Later' a very special debut indeed.

• New

  Paperback
  2002

  $12.23

  The bestselling voice of Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city: the new Berlin.

  `The little jewellery box also held the red coral bracelet from Nikolai Sergeyevich. Its six hundred and seventy-five little coral beads were strung onto a silken thread, and they glowed as red as rage. My great-grandmother put the hairbrush down in her lap. She closed her eyes for a long time. Then she opened her eyes again, took the red coral bracelet from the little box and fastened it around her left wrist. Her skin was very white. That evening, for the first time in three years, she shared a meal with my great-grandfather.'

  Coral bracelets `as red as rage' from Russian lovers; a sad old woman who nonetheless `sometimes sang and winked with her left eye and laughed till the tears came'; country houses `away from Berlin, linden trees out front, chestnuts in the back, sky above': `The Summer House, Later' is an elegant, measured, reflective collection of stories which captures beautifully the promise of bright colours lying just out of reach of our grey daily routines.

  Set in and around Europe's fastest-growing, fastest-living city, these stories take as their starting point the monotony of modern urban life - the endless antennas and chimneys, the pigeons in the gutters - and looks beyond them to `the narrow strip of sky over the rooftops'. The literary sensation of the year in her native Germany, Judith Hermann is a wonderfully talented young writer whose ability to find drama and beauty in the smallest, most trivial moments makes `The Summer House, Later' a very special debut indeed.