679. Patterns of Childhood

Patterns of Childhood
Christa Wolf
1976
Around 415 pages

My superpowers failed me on this entry, and I wasn't able to locate a free edition of this work. So I ended up ordering this very thick novel and using it as one of my travel books overseas. Which is a lot of pressure to put on our relationship. You have to be pretty entertaining to make a seven hour flight in coach bearable. 

So this is an immensely complex novel that apparently got shanked in the English edition. But the List is already forcing me to learn Korean for one of these entries, so I can't really take on German right now. Our simplified, English version shares the narrator's experience of being a child in Nazi Germany. 

The narrator is trying to make sense of the past by telling her story. Her understanding of what was actually going on in Nazi Germany was so warped based on what she was told. It reminded me of Margaret Mitchell not knowing that the South lost until she was ten years old. Children are told by the people in power what the world should be like, so it was a unique and disturbing perspective coming from this time period. 

But I just couldn't stand Wolf's writing. The shifts to second person were particularly irritating. I felt like the narrator was still trying to keep a distance between herself and the events of the past to protect her emotional and mental health, but then we missed really deep diving into the biggest moments. Of course, this might have just been an issue with the translation.

A heavy, tangled novel and not at all fun to read on a vacation. 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

One of these changes in the English edition is the modification in tone towards political elements of the text. For example, criticism of America disappears in translation.

A notable difference between the original German version and the English translation is the significant decrease in length. In a number of places, whole paragraphs have been omitted.

UP NEXT: Amateurs by Donald Barthelme

612. The Quest for Christa T.

The Quest for Christa T.
Christa Wolf
1968
Around Christa Wolf

Interesting fact: I have now read all the novels on the List that start with the letter "Q." Please hold your applause until the end of this post. 

The story focuses on Christa T., from the German Democratic Republic, who is slowly dying from leukemia. The structure is fairly confusing and non linear, and we know from the jump what happens to Christa, so it's a pretty slow march of misery.

The perspective here is unique, and I like novels that take on the patriarchy as much as the next feminist. But the novel doesn't really go anywhere, as our narrator is mostly interested in piecing together Christa's life, rather than creating a compelling narrative.

Really demonstrates how totalitarianism is detrimental to its followers, as well as its decriers. Worth reading, and I'm going to have to chew on it more.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

One of David Bowie's favorite books.

UP NEXT: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick