Customer Reviews

German for Travelers: A Novel in 95 Lessons

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In 95 brief chapters, this novel acquaints us with an extended family and its secrets, past and present. In 2005, a letter from a woman claiming to be their great-aunt prompts Jewish-American cousins Eliza Berlin and Louisa 'Lemon' Leopold to travel to Germany. There, at the beginning of the previous century, their great-grandfather, Dr. Jozef Apfel, was a prominent psychoanalyst. The novel reveals secrets and traumas within the lives of the cousins as well as the truth behind their great-grandfather's most mysterious case, that of 'Elsa Z.' At various times, the reader will notice what seems to be the sparest of expository prose (the body of one chapter consists of a single twelve-word sentence); occasionally, there is a page-length paragraph; some sections particularly impress with their use of dialogue or detail. Although some readers may initially find it difficult to track all the characters, overall, the novel is extremely engaging, shifting in time and place with artful connections and literary grace. Chronology [included]. (This review originally appeared in JEWISH BOOK WORLD.)

I found my first Norah Labiner book--"Miniatures" Miniatures-- at a thrift shop. I liked reading it so much that I ordered two others from Amazon. This "German for Travelers" is completely different in style, and perhaps some would say the structure is artificial or too intellectual, yet it suits my (new) reading style: slower! I think Labiner has both abandon and control; her mind conjures up -- seemingly effortlessly -- wonderful images, words and phrases, and she self-edits so well that I as the reader don't ever feel she has done something "clever" or show-offy. As a writer myself, I feel that i have met a true peer. This is a multi-generation story with well-sketched characters. They are sketched so often, in different ways, that you get to know them as you would a real person. Highly recommended.

Ms. Labiner is a precise and creative novelist. This book is very different from her previous two novels, but one realizes that similarly, every syllable is carefully chosen, as was the case in her first two novels. Each chapter has a special first person approach, and she skips back and forth in time aligning each aspect of the story and the characters as the two modern women seek to learn of their past and the meaning in it.

Norah Labiner is as skilled as any modern writer, and her facility with the language is often breathtaking.