Grade 6-9. Toward the end of World War II, the Koenig family is evacuated from East Prussia along with the rest of the villagers to flee the advancing Russian army; in the midst of the chaos, three sisters are separated. One ends up in the U.S. and one in West Germany, while the third remains behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. In 1989, after the Wall comes down, two of the sisters' 14-year-old granddaughters meet. Irene, from America, learns Freya's story of growing up in East Germany. Tales are related about school, the secret police, food shortages, German-Soviet friendship, and the drabness of everyday life (blatantly exposed through gifts and letters from relatives abroad). Most of all, Freya relates her obsession with chaos theory and its effect on human affairs, particularly the Koenig sisters' 1945 trek, which she acts out in infinite variations. This novel is an absorbing, creative look at life behind the Iron Curtain. Freya is an intriguing character, as are her feisty grandmother, her loyal friend Winno, and her overburdened mother. Degens's writing is fluid and descriptive, and the symbolism is nicely handled without being overdone. The book's major drawback is Irene's first-person narration, which begins each chapter (Freya's account is related in third person). Though it conveys some essential information, it is annoying and sounds forced and false. Elizabeth Lutzeier's The Wall (Holiday, 1992) is a gripping, action-oriented novel about East Berlin teenagers during the same period, for slightly older readers.?Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
From Degens (On the Third Ward, 1990), an intricate, cerebral picture of life in East Germany just before the Berlin Wall's destruction, as seen through the eyes of a teenager with family on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Inspired by her grandmother Dulla's folkloric tale of how she and her sisters fled the advancing Soviet army in 1945 and were separated, Freya reenacts the flight, with numerous imaginative variations. At the same time, fascinated by chaos theory, she tests the idea that small local events can have large consequences. Events and revelations put Freya on an emotional rollercoaster: She learns that Dulla hasn't told her the whole story; a romance with a neighbor is nipped off when his family joins the rising tide of defectors. Degens develops this family saga slowly, framing it as a story that Freya later tells to her American cousin; thoughtful readers who keep track of the shifting eras and narrators will be rewarded with a steady look at attitudes and living conditions during East Germany's last days, a large but well-differentiated cast led by a sensitive protagonist, plus insight into how Nazi atrocities still haunt the psyches of many Germans. While it is not a page-turner, this novel is studded with subtle connections and concepts. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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