The End of Days

(4.5 stars) In this unusual novel, the unnamed main character has five "deaths" in the novel's five "books," as the author examines the very nature of time, mortality, fate, coincidence, and the effects of a death on the people connected to that character. Here, however, death is not permanent. If the unnamed main character makes a bad choice and dies, German author Jenny Erpenbeck simply changes one of the conditions which brought about her death and retells her story. There is no heavenly hand, no higher deity, no fate with predictable goals or rewards controlling the outcomes here, only the hand of the author, with her long view and broad themes. Erpenbeck aims high, creating an unnamed main character from early twentieth-century Galicia (now incorporated as parts of Poland and Ukraine) who endures two world wars and their aftereffects, the growth of communism, the division of Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and other major events of European history over the course of a century. The main character's death-defying personal experiences parallel those wrought by political changes, and as she endures, or dies and is given a second chance, she also becomes an "Everywoman" for the century. Her intimate life story, portrayed within the context of major historical events in various locations in Eastern Europe, makes the small details of a person's life feel real within the world in miniature, her life a microcosm of the continent over the course of a century. In the opening section, which recounts the death of an eight-month-old baby shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century, the author vividly recreates the personal devastation it brings to the child's family. An "intermezzo" suggests a way the baby might have been saved, if only.... Book II takes place in 1919, after World War I, and what is left of the family has moved to Vienna, where 450,000 refugees like them from Galicia have migrated, hoping to find food. These two "books," tension-filled and dramatic, keep the focus on the themes of time and chance and death, while each "Intermezzo" between the chapters suggests an alternative time frame which could have changed the course of lives. Book III takes a new direction, and the narrative style changes as description becomes subordinated to the tumult of political events. Here, it is 1935, and the main character, a committed communist, has become involved in political intrigue in Moscow, making her a candidate for the gulag. The emphasis on the political and sociological, while important from the point of view of twentieth century history, supersedes that of the main character here, and some readers may find their attention to the personal narrative wandering in this section. Book IV continues the story through the next generation, and Book V depicts the life and thoughts of an elderly woman - Frau Hoffmann, age ninety - as she and her heirs separately consider her experiences through the possessions which she has left behind. Serious and literary, the novel never underestimates the reader, always providing new insights which expand our view of the past and increase our understanding of themes. With the exception of Book III, which feels a bit out of character to me, this is a first-class literary novel which deserves all the attention it is receiving.

What a wonderfully strange novel--I enjoyed every carefully chosen word.

A few years ago, I discovered - through the recommendation of a friend - a stunning and poetic little masterpiece titled Visitation, containing a haunting narrative that carefully wove its way in and out of history and time. The author was Jenny Erpenbeck and, since then, I've eagerly awaited her newest work. And finally, it's here. The theme she so beautifully explored - the fluidity of history and time - is front and center of this book as well and, if possible, even more fully realized. Those who have read Kate Atkinson's book Life After Life will note an almost eerie symmetry (although this book was published in Germany in 2012, mere months before the Atkinson book.) The premise derives from the German saying, "Es ist noch nict aller Tage Abend", translated to, "It isn't over until the end of all days." Starting at the turn of the 20th century, a baby girl has lost her brief battle with life during the Habsburg Empire. But what if she had lived? The next of the five interwoven books imagines her as a poor and despondent teenager in Vienna during post World War I Vienna, where - again - she meets up with death. In the next rendition, she has survived into adulthood and is now a fervent Communist until her rendezvous with death. And so on. Unlike the Atkinson book, Erpenbeck's novel goes beyond the "wind back the tape and let's see what happens" scenario. For one thing, there are Intermezzos between each rendition, which prods the reader to see how one minute or one move could make a world of different. There's something more organic about all of it. We never - or, at least, not to the final book - learn the name of the characters. They are called daughter or mother or grandmother. That is a deliberate choice on the part of Ms. Erpenbeck; in Shakespeare's words, "We are poor players who strut and fret our last hour on the stage." They could be any family. They could be us. A paraphrase of the title is used in the first book: "A day on which a life comes to end is still far from being the end of all days." Jenny Erpenbeck's book is cobbled together around Hegel's truism: "The truth is the whole." In each section, we see part of the truth: what may have happened, what happened from a certain character's perspective, what may not have happened at all. Only until we get to the end do we understand the importance of continuity: (to paraphrase the author), we carry within us a vast dark land, all the stories our mother never told us or that she hid from us...all the stories our mothers never heard of or never knew. In a lifetime, regimes rise and fall, people vanish or fade away, material goods find new owners. Yet life goes on. There is incredible beauty in the prose, translated to perfection by Susan Bernofsky, such as, "Her body is a city. Her heart is a large shady square, her fingers pedestrians, her hair the light of streetlamps, her knees two rows of buildings. She tries to give people footpaths..." From the almost folkloric or mythic feel of the first book to the more strident tone of the third to the achingly poignant tone of the final book, Ms. Erpenbeck flirts with the notion of possibility, fate, and death. She is an exciting writer who deserves the widest audience possible.

This book moves through different time periods - not as seamlessly as intended. The lack of use of names often serves to confuse when you are reading about.

This strange and beautiful -- and sad -- book explores the mutability of time and history, working through the horrors of twentieth century Europe. The structural device is simple: the author shuffles the cards at the moment when the central character dies, and examines the "what if" of choices made differently that would not have lead to the death. This starts with the death of a baby of a young Jewish woman in the Habsburg Empire -- the mother mourns, the husband leaves, but -- what if the baby hadn't died? Then, we move forward with the story of the undead baby, the unleaving husband, the contented wife, until the end of the War brings disaster to Vienna, and the grown up daughter dies a sort of suicide, but -- what if she hadn't despaired? And so on and so on. Some of the choices that push the character towards death or away from it are profound, others trivial in the extreme. The book ends with the character in an old age home, slipping towards a death that, this time, can't be shuffled away. This isn't a straight linear read, but the characters are alive, and one has the momentum of history to keep the pages turning. I thought it was beautifully written, and found the story touching. In some way, despite the sadness of so much of the story, it is tremendously life affirming: there is an extraordinary amount of detail about things and people, showing the richness, as well as the pathos, of life.

Super read

Two and a half stars really, it's been a little while since I read this but almost none of it has remained with me. I think that's a sign.

A grea story, and well writen, but very depressing. It woul be better, if there was at least one possible "good" end for the days.

Erpenbeck knows to entice her readers. She entwines you inside her lexicon web and takes you on a reality ride through the lanes of reminiscences.

Absolutely brilliant. I couldn't put it down. Poignant. The book is however structured in a rather complex and not so easily accessible style: made up of 5 books, it spans in a compact manner European history from the beginning of the 20th century to contemporary times. Each book deals with one historical period of great political and social turmoil e.g. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Nazi regime, the Soviet era, East German decades and now after German reunification. It is a clever construction (perhaps too clever!) and deals with the question of "what if that (unamed) girl had survived that political /social upheaval to face the next one?". It is a book about the randomness of life events and the constant threat of death (whether due to your religious affiliation or hunger or suicide or political affiliation). Each book has a great sense of place whether it is Vienna, Moscow or Berlin. The book is multilayered and dense. It is also about the role and burden of identity. This story strikes an emotional nerve: it is heart-breaking to read about what a German Frau who has escaped death throughout the 20th century and is today in her 90s (demented and in a nursing home in Berlin) has experienced and endured in one single lifetime. With the loss of her mental faculties she has at last lost her identity. Perhaps this is what freedom is. Snow Beach

Well written and the subject does not leave you indifferent, but it was just so depressing. It also seemed repetitive at times.