Customer Reviews

Nothing But Ghosts

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I bought this after seeing the excellent German film of the same name.

While the main characters are females, I could identify strongly with the themes of this book: the feelings of not belonging, feeling out of place, searching for 'home', having trouble communicating with those closest to you... Fascinating stories and fascinating characters

Hailed as the sound of a new German generation, Hermann's style of short-story telling, as first showed in "Summerhouse, later" was quietly ground-breaking: Focus on the circumstantial, leave the important unmentioned. In her highly anticipated (and likely major performance-anxiety-inducing) sophomore effort, she defied the odds for young shooting-stars in the cranky German literary scene and produced a collection far superior to the first. The stories are longer (criticized by some, though to me every sentence was added value), the storyteller more cosmopolitan, the tone even more captivating.

Whenever there is something unique, it is bound to become the subject of imitation. So it has happened to Judith Hermann, but she can continue working without fear: The shtick definitely doesn't work for many, but it does for her.