In 1938, seventeen-year-old Beatrice, an Irish Protestant lace maker, finds herself at the center of a fairy tale when she is whisked away from her dreary life to join the Berlin household of Felix and Dorothea Metzenburg. Art collectors, and friends to the most fascinating men and women in Europe, the Metzenburgs introduce Beatrice to a world in which she finds more to desire than she ever imagined.
But Germany has launched its campaign of aggression across Europe, and, before long, the conflict reaches the Metzenburgs’ threshold. Retreating with Beatrice to their country estate, Felix and Dorothea do their best to preserve the traditions of the old world. But the realities of hunger and illness, as well as the even graver threats of Nazi terror, the deportation and murder of Jews, and the hordes of refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army begin to threaten their existence. When the Metzenburgs are forced to join a growing population of men and women in hiding, Beatrice, increasingly attached to the family and its unlikely wartime community, bears heartrending witness to the atrocities of the age and to the human capacity for strength in the face of irrevocable loss.
In searing physical and emotional detail, The Life of Objects illuminates Beatrice’s journey from childhood to womanhood, from naïveté to wisdom, as a continent collapses into darkness around her. It is Susanna Moore’s most powerful and haunting novel yet.
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Amazon.com Review
Guest Review: Sarah Blake on The Life of Objects by Susanna Moore
Sarah Blake is the author of the novels Grange House, and The Postmistress, a New York Times Bestseller and winner of South Africa's Boeke Prize.
Sarah Blake is the author of the novels Grange House, and The Postmistress, a New York Times Bestseller and winner of South Africa's Boeke Prize. Many years ago, I heard Susanna Moore read from her terrifying novel In the Cut. I was riveted by her voice as slowly, steadily, and with unflinching surety, she read aloud the snuffing of a character’s life. As she neared the end, the entire bookstore forgot to breathe. Moore, performing a high wire act if ever there was one, led us coolly but with great sympathy into a world of darkness.
She was, that night, our Beatrice into Hell, and her new novel, The Life of Objects, offers another Beatrice leading us into the specific and largely untold story of the hell endured by the civilian German population caught in World War II. You may think you’ve read all there is to read about this war, but you will not have read anything like this.
“My name is Beatrice Adelaide Palmer,” the novel begins. “I was born in 1921 in Ballycarra, County Mayo, the only child of Elizabeth Givens and Morris Palmer of Palmerston.” Like Jane Eyre, or the heroines of Dickens or Trollope (whom this Beatrice reads avidly), Beatrice Palmer yearns past the borders of her life, into a wider world than her Irish village. And when a beautiful Countess notices Beatrice’s lace handiwork at a ball, and proposes to whisk her away to Berlin to visit her friends the Metzenburgs, possessed of a great house and “the best manners in Europe,” it seems this Beatrice has been touched by fortune. The year is 1938.
When the Countess and Beatrice arrive in Berlin, they discover that the Metzenburgs are in flight to their estate in the country, and though Beatrice is free to return to Ireland, she chooses to join the household as a lacemaker. She stays with them through the war’s beginnings, its long years, and its destructive end—when the Russian Army, murderous, vengeful, and random in its cruel attention, sweeps through the countryside.
Like A Woman in Berlin, this novel describes the horror of being caught in the web of indifferent historical forces. But what is new here, and the source of its power, is the ignorance and simplicity of its young narrator. Beatrice’s unsentimental, precise account of what happens in the last days of the war renders the horrible even more unfathomable. We know with the hindsight of history what it means when a beloved schoolteacher has vanished, or when an American soldier appears in the woods. But in Beatrice’s telling, she does not. And so the war begins to seem like something out of one of Grimm’s horrors. With the force of a folktale, The Life of Objects got me in its grip and has not let me go.
Review
“A frightening and wholly convincing evocation of life in Germany during the twilight of the Third Reich.” —J. M. Coetzee
“I find this book exhilarating—truly exciting, new, everything good—the people, the clothes, the food: every word.” —Joan Didion
“This is a deceptively simple novel that manages that uncanny trick of great fiction: turning the familiar (ambitious provincial girl, World War II, glamorous aristocrats) into a thrilling, enchanting story you’ve never encountered before. Imagine Downton Abbey crossed with In the Garden of Beasts as fashioned by a literary master at the peak of her powers.” —Kurt Andersen, author of True Believers
“In The Life of Objects, Susanna Moore tells the story of a young woman’s initiation into the worlds of beauty, suffering, cynicism, and grace. What astounds me about this work is its ability to attend with equal fidelity to the quiet nuances of self-discovery and the deceptions and depravities of World War II. This is a lyrical and courageous book.” —Tracy K. Smith, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry
“The Life of Objects isn’t long but it gives the full sweep of the Nazi reign and the Soviet occupation. Its details are so convincing, it reads like a memoir not a novel—a magnificent achievement.” —Edmund White
“I hadn’t realized that the lives led by people in the camps had a shadow existence outside the fences, that people were constantly faced with the chance to step one way or the other so that the person next to them would be chosen instead, and that forever after they had to bear their choice. Treachery one wants to call it, but it isn’t so simple. Some of the details and evocations of the house and the landscape and the habits of the connoisseur and the self are so striking that at times I had the feeling I was reading a memoir, something like Edmund Gosse, where the writer is trying to keep his head among belligerent circumstances, or, on the other hand, fiction like Samuel Butler’s. The writing in places is close to a standard that is nearly flawless. So much can happen in a sentence, by such slight (to the reader) but rigorous and elegant means. I nearly gasped at some parts. And there is something gravely and humanly funny about others.” —Alec Wilkinson, author of The Ice Balloon
“The Life of Objects is absolutely gripping in the precision of its wartime narrative, and chilling in its evocation of a fidelity to the sensuality of this world in the face of the most deeply cynical of the world’s capacities. This extraordinary novel speaks to class, emigration and tragedy in our time as devastatingly as Buddenbrooks spoke to Thomas Mann’s own young century.” —Susan Wheeler, winner of the Witter Bynner Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts & Letters
“A marvelous book, devastating in its simplicity. It’s a beautifully controlled examination of a life stripped, like a body in wartime, of inessentials. I love the fact that kindness—though not sentimentality—turns out to be an essential. But for me the heart of the matter is Moore’s language: as strong as plainchant, and as beautiful.” —Nicola Griffith, author of The Blue Place and Ammonite
“I find this book exhilarating—truly exciting, new, everything good—the people, the clothes, the food: every word.” —Joan Didion
“This is a deceptively simple novel that manages that uncanny trick of great fiction: turning the familiar (ambitious provincial girl, World War II, glamorous aristocrats) into a thrilling, enchanting story you’ve never encountered before. Imagine Downton Abbey crossed with In the Garden of Beasts as fashioned by a literary master at the peak of her powers.” —Kurt Andersen, author of True Believers
“In The Life of Objects, Susanna Moore tells the story of a young woman’s initiation into the worlds of beauty, suffering, cynicism, and grace. What astounds me about this work is its ability to attend with equal fidelity to the quiet nuances of self-discovery and the deceptions and depravities of World War II. This is a lyrical and courageous book.” —Tracy K. Smith, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry
“The Life of Objects isn’t long but it gives the full sweep of the Nazi reign and the Soviet occupation. Its details are so convincing, it reads like a memoir not a novel—a magnificent achievement.” —Edmund White
“I hadn’t realized that the lives led by people in the camps had a shadow existence outside the fences, that people were constantly faced with the chance to step one way or the other so that the person next to them would be chosen instead, and that forever after they had to bear their choice. Treachery one wants to call it, but it isn’t so simple. Some of the details and evocations of the house and the landscape and the habits of the connoisseur and the self are so striking that at times I had the feeling I was reading a memoir, something like Edmund Gosse, where the writer is trying to keep his head among belligerent circumstances, or, on the other hand, fiction like Samuel Butler’s. The writing in places is close to a standard that is nearly flawless. So much can happen in a sentence, by such slight (to the reader) but rigorous and elegant means. I nearly gasped at some parts. And there is something gravely and humanly funny about others.” —Alec Wilkinson, author of The Ice Balloon
“The Life of Objects is absolutely gripping in the precision of its wartime narrative, and chilling in its evocation of a fidelity to the sensuality of this world in the face of the most deeply cynical of the world’s capacities. This extraordinary novel speaks to class, emigration and tragedy in our time as devastatingly as Buddenbrooks spoke to Thomas Mann’s own young century.” —Susan Wheeler, winner of the Witter Bynner Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts & Letters
“A marvelous book, devastating in its simplicity. It’s a beautifully controlled examination of a life stripped, like a body in wartime, of inessentials. I love the fact that kindness—though not sentimentality—turns out to be an essential. But for me the heart of the matter is Moore’s language: as strong as plainchant, and as beautiful.” —Nicola Griffith, author of The Blue Place and Ammonite
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Beatrice Palmer, a young woman in the west of Ireland, is bored with her constricting life as a shop girl in her family's haberdashery. Her life offers no possibilities until a glamorous countess comes along and whisks her away to a life of privilege in the wealthy household of the Metzenburg family in Germany. She imagines herself the lucky girl living a fairy tale life: "I, who'd been properly bewitched, was accompanying her to a distant kingdom where I would live in an enchanted forest and spin flax into gold."
Unfortunately, the year is 1938, Hitler is on the rise and World War II looms on the near horizon. When it becomes clear that war is inevitable, Beatrice has the option to return home, but her desire to live a larger life keeps her loyal to Felix and Dorothea Metzenburg.
Many stories of impending war center on people who either don't know or can't let themselves believe the consequences of staying. Ms. Moore's story is unusual in that the Metzenburgs (in particular, Felix) understand the consequences and yet decide to remain and face what is to come. For Felix, it isn't a loyalty to his country or a particular attraction to his estate (it's his wife's ancestral home). Instead, it's a soul-deep connection to his objects, his "treasure" as the family calls it. He stays to protect his priceless collection of art, antiques, jewelry and porcelain. These objects are in essence his identity; he has no desire to live in a world without their beauty.
For varying reasons, everyone decides to stay, even those who have the means of escape: Beatrice, because she wants no other life; household servants, out of loyalty to their employers; Dorothea, out of love for her husband. As the book unfolds, the tragedy of war and eventually the horrors of living under the oppression of Soviet rule engulf the protagonists. The Metzenburgs' priceless objects ultimately become a means of survival for themselves as well as others.
This is a riveting book, and one that I appreciated, surprisingly, for its restraint. Beatrice doesn't cut the apron strings only to become entangled in scandalous behavior. Her desires are modest, her pleasures simple. She is a good and conscientious girl, naive in many ways, but also loyal, brave and even, in the end, heroic. The war, she realizes, made her who she is and she knows she is the better for it.
This is a story that will linger long after you've reached the last page. What a delight to spend a few hours with such an accomplished storyteller as Susanna Moore. After reading this book, I picked up and enjoyed The Typist, by Michael Knight, a story set in occupied Japan after World War II whose protagonist seems similarly willing to let events carry him along.
Unfortunately, the year is 1938, Hitler is on the rise and World War II looms on the near horizon. When it becomes clear that war is inevitable, Beatrice has the option to return home, but her desire to live a larger life keeps her loyal to Felix and Dorothea Metzenburg.
Many stories of impending war center on people who either don't know or can't let themselves believe the consequences of staying. Ms. Moore's story is unusual in that the Metzenburgs (in particular, Felix) understand the consequences and yet decide to remain and face what is to come. For Felix, it isn't a loyalty to his country or a particular attraction to his estate (it's his wife's ancestral home). Instead, it's a soul-deep connection to his objects, his "treasure" as the family calls it. He stays to protect his priceless collection of art, antiques, jewelry and porcelain. These objects are in essence his identity; he has no desire to live in a world without their beauty.
For varying reasons, everyone decides to stay, even those who have the means of escape: Beatrice, because she wants no other life; household servants, out of loyalty to their employers; Dorothea, out of love for her husband. As the book unfolds, the tragedy of war and eventually the horrors of living under the oppression of Soviet rule engulf the protagonists. The Metzenburgs' priceless objects ultimately become a means of survival for themselves as well as others.
This is a riveting book, and one that I appreciated, surprisingly, for its restraint. Beatrice doesn't cut the apron strings only to become entangled in scandalous behavior. Her desires are modest, her pleasures simple. She is a good and conscientious girl, naive in many ways, but also loyal, brave and even, in the end, heroic. The war, she realizes, made her who she is and she knows she is the better for it.
This is a story that will linger long after you've reached the last page. What a delight to spend a few hours with such an accomplished storyteller as Susanna Moore. After reading this book, I picked up and enjoyed The Typist, by Michael Knight, a story set in occupied Japan after World War II whose protagonist seems similarly willing to let events carry him along.
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
In 1938, Beatrice Palmer is willingly seduced away from her home in Ireland by self-styled Countess Hartenfels' promise to introduce her to a German woman who would be enchanted by Beatrice's skill in sewing lace. Using the name Maeve, Beatrice joins Herr Felix Metzenburg and his wife Dorothea at their home thinking to work as a seamstress creating lace enhancements for Dorothea. She soon finds that her role is more that of a poor relation working as a servant in their odd household.
The Life of Objects follows Beatrice (Maeve) and the Metzenburgs as they struggle to survive through World War II, first in Berlin, the later at the Metzenburgs country estate. It soon becomes apparent that Herr Felix is suspicious of the new Nazi government. As the war begins, he slowly moves his treasured paintings, Dorothea's jewelry, and much of their silver into hiding places around the estate. He simultaneously tries to help the local villagers, refugees from Poland and Eastern Europe, and wounded or deserting German soldiers while maintaining some semblance of family.
The story offers up many of the well-known atrocities against Jews, homosexuals, and opponents of Hitler's regime through the eyes of the Metzenburg's extended family. They live under the threat of death by their fellow Germans - Gestapo and SS - as well as from the nightly bombing raids across the countryside. Murder, rape, suicide, and destruction are described in some detail.
But I could never connect with either Beatrice or the events described. Somehow, I felt no involvement with the story. I am accustomed to my slowly (or, occasionally, quickly) rising adrenaline levels as I read a good mystery or suspense story - but nothing happened as I read The Life of Objects. While the book seems well-written and reads easily, something is missing.
The Life of Objects follows Beatrice (Maeve) and the Metzenburgs as they struggle to survive through World War II, first in Berlin, the later at the Metzenburgs country estate. It soon becomes apparent that Herr Felix is suspicious of the new Nazi government. As the war begins, he slowly moves his treasured paintings, Dorothea's jewelry, and much of their silver into hiding places around the estate. He simultaneously tries to help the local villagers, refugees from Poland and Eastern Europe, and wounded or deserting German soldiers while maintaining some semblance of family.
The story offers up many of the well-known atrocities against Jews, homosexuals, and opponents of Hitler's regime through the eyes of the Metzenburg's extended family. They live under the threat of death by their fellow Germans - Gestapo and SS - as well as from the nightly bombing raids across the countryside. Murder, rape, suicide, and destruction are described in some detail.
But I could never connect with either Beatrice or the events described. Somehow, I felt no involvement with the story. I am accustomed to my slowly (or, occasionally, quickly) rising adrenaline levels as I read a good mystery or suspense story - but nothing happened as I read The Life of Objects. While the book seems well-written and reads easily, something is missing.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
From a literary standpoint this is a decently written book but it did not translate into an enjoyable reading experience. The backdrop of the novel is the rise and fall of Nazism in WWII era Berlin and the efforts of a broad range of people to maintain hope, sustenance and order in the midst of uncertainty and death. It is not primarily a book about the war however. Rather it is a commentary about our relationship with things and how we imbue them with the power to define, enchant, complete or in some way save us from whatever darkness we fear. Moore also shows how easy it is to objectify not only other people, but ourselves as well. The characters were all somewhat detached from themselves and each other and I never was able to engage with them or enter into the story in a satisfying way. The context was interesting but not essential to the story which could have been set in any number of historical settings. This is not a book that I would ever re-read or recommend.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complex and intriguing
The complexities of life in a war zone. The deep humanity of the main characters. The uncertainties of both the characters and the reader about who is ally, who is enemy.
Published 12 days ago by Lee Rasmussen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unique and objectively written without gimmics
I was captivated by the unique, raiser sharp and objective descriptions and character development of am Irish Maid, as she grows from innocence to enlightenment in the horrible... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Mike_hi
4.0 out of 5 stars
This haunting novel took me on an emotional journey
Some books I like right away, some take me longer to become invested in. The Life of Objects took me awhile, but once it got a hold of me, it didn't let go until the emotional end. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Diane
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem of a book
I read one of this author's earlier novels, about British characters in 19th century India. She certainly does her research and this book is no exception. Read more
Published 1 month ago by lisatheratgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars
thoroughly engrossing
The Life of Objects is a well written novel that captured my attention and kept it throughout. It's an unpredictable story set during WWII from a perspective seldom explored. Read more
Published 1 month ago by chickenless:(
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best yet!
Susanna Moore has truly reached a new level of consciousness with this one. And, I thought I loved MY OLD SWEETHEART. Read more
Published 2 months ago by kathleen croft
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written & subtlety haunting
Moore took this reader on an intriguing journey. What I thought was going to be a coming of age adventure story, turned into a novel that calmly described the harrowing effects of... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sally Dee
5.0 out of 5 stars
beautiful work
The writing is intimate, yet detached, transcendent in the way Edward Hopper
transcends. Spare, unsentimental depiction of survival strategies in a time of war.
transcends. Spare, unsentimental depiction of survival strategies in a time of war.
Published 2 months ago by william chillingworth
4.0 out of 5 stars
A foreboding story of WWII
Beatrice Palmer, a young lady who hungers to escape her confining Irish town in the late-1930s, attracts the attention of an important visitor in town with her competent Irish... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Flight Risk (The Gypsy Moth)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Life Lessons
A beautiful story about the loss of privilege and comfort. I loved the descriptions of the life lived, among beautiful physical surroundings and kindness and love. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Samantha Glick
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