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The End of Days

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck is a compelling exploration of life's possibilities and the profound impact of seemingly small decisions. The novel traces the life of a woman across different versions of history, with each section altering the trajectory of her life due to a pivotal event. It delves into themes of fate, identity, and the interconnectedness of past and present, offering a meditation on the countless directions life can take.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate stories that explore the intricate web of history and personal lives, offering thought-provoking reflections on identity, fate, and the passage of time. With its unique narrative structure that examines multiple possible lives of one woman, this book is perfect for readers who enjoy a deep, contemplative dive into the "what ifs" of existence.

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A story of the twentieth century told through the various lives of one woman: an intoxicating masterpiece of a novel that kneads time and History like dough.

A story of the twentieth century told through the various lives of one woman: an intoxicating masterpiece of a novel that kneads Time and History like dough

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Who are we when we are born? Who are we when the hour of our death comes? What changes? What remains?

By tracing the five possible lives lived and the five deaths of one woman whose life spans, or fails to span, the twentieth century, the magical, magisterial author of Visitation exposes the machinations of what we call "fate" – actually inexplicable and undetermined, an interplay of culture and history, of family and personal entanglements.

The protagonist never grows up, suffocates in her cradle. Or perhaps not? Dies as a lover. Or doesn't after all. Dies betrayed. Highly honoured. Or forgotten by everyone. Or perhaps not?

Jenny Erpenbeck takes us on a journey through the many lives that could be contained in one single life – starting off in a small Galician town in about 1900 and going to Vienna and Stalin's Moscow before ending up in present-day Berlin. She interrogates the impact of the political on the personal, and as she tackles this theme she draws on a uniquely German narrative impetus: the ongoing need to reckon with its past and its place in recent history.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781846275159

Publisher: Granta Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 May 2015

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Books

Contributors:

  • Translated by Susan Bernofsky
  • Translated by Susan Bernofsky
  • Translated by Susan Bernofsky

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 183g

Pages: 192

About the Author

Jenny Erpenbeck is the author of Visitation (2010) and The Old Child & The Book of Words (2008), both published by Portobello. Her fiction is published in fourteen languages.

Susan Bernofsky has translated works by Robert Walser, Hermann Hesse, Gregor von Rezzori, Yoko Tawada, Ludwig Harig and Franz Kafka. She is the author of Foreign Words: Translator-Authors in the Age of Goethe and is currently at work on a biography of Robert Walser. Her translation of The Old Child and Other Stories was awarded the 2006 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize.

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