Hester Among the Ruins

Rating:
Summary: "Ich bin ein Berliner"
Review: A young Jewish-American historian going to Munich to do research on medieval traditions and customs - that's the seemingly harmless starting point of Binnie Kirshenbaum's new novel.

But the story soon takes a more dangerous twist when the ambitious and well assimilated Hester Rosenfeld who has so far only devoted herself to American colonial history falls in love with her German advisor, professor Heinrich Falk, who is twenty years older than her. On the spur of the moment she throws all caution to the wind and decides to write his biography as "a typical German" of the post-war generation, who was "born in the shadows of history", in Germany's darkness and shame.

This "project" which is part of a charming and innocent "folie à deux" is by its very nature bound to fail, but Binnie Kirshenbaum is a skilful and clever author who derives an amazing amount of insight from her first person narrator's futile attempts to deal with the horrors of the past and the oddities of the present. Not only does Hester Rosenfeld meet many quirky German characters in her quest, not only does she realize how much the feelings of guilt have created an uneasy mixture of shame and philosemitism in Germany, but she eventually becomes aware of her own Jewishness in ways that she didn't know about in her earlier life.

The result is a fascinating, dark, sexy novel, full of light, funny moments.

I've followed Binnie Kirshenbaum's earlier books with great enthusiasm, I loved 'Disturbance in one Place' and 'Pure Poetry', but there is no doubt that 'Hester' is her most political statement so far.

I heard Binnie Kirshenbaum read in Berlin and I got the impression that the German audience well appreciates the fact that there are American writers who are interested in the Old Continent, who listen to what people here have to say and who take the message back home.

Rating:
Summary: "Ich bin ein Berliner"
Review: A young Jewish-American historian going to Munich to do research on medieval traditions and customs - that's the seemingly harmless starting point of Binnie Kirshenbaum's new novel.

But the story soon takes a more dangerous twist when the ambitious and well assimilated Hester Rosenfeld who has so far only devoted herself to American colonial history falls in love with her German advisor, professor Heinrich Falk, who is twenty years older than her. On the spur of the moment she throws all caution to the wind and decides to write his biography as "a typical German" of the post-war generation, who was "born in the shadows of history", in Germany's darkness and shame.

This "project" which is part of a charming and innocent "folie à deux" is by its very nature bound to fail, but Binnie Kirshenbaum is a skilful and clever author who derives an amazing amount of insight from her first person narrator's futile attempts to deal with the horrors of the past and the oddities of the present. Not only does Hester Rosenfeld meet many quirky German characters in her quest, not only does she realize how much the feelings of guilt have created an uneasy mixture of shame and philosemitism in Germany, but she eventually becomes aware of her own Jewishness in ways that she didn't know about in her earlier life.

The result is a fascinating, dark, sexy novel, full of light, funny moments.

I've followed Binnie Kirshenbaum's earlier books with great enthusiasm, I loved 'Disturbance in one Place' and 'Pure Poetry', but there is no doubt that 'Hester' is her most political statement so far.

I heard Binnie Kirshenbaum read in Berlin and I got the impression that the German audience well appreciates the fact that there are American writers who are interested in the Old Continent, who listen to what people here have to say and who take the message back home.

Rating:
Summary: Important, Intelligent, Heart-wrenching
Review: I loved this book, and I've read it three times. On my third read, I looked at the way Binnie Kirshbaum handled the nature of betrayal since she manages to explore almost every type of betrayal that exists: betrayal between lovers, betrayal of parents, betrayal of goverments, betrayal of memory, and, of course, the ultimate betrayal of life itself, death. Inevitably we can't live unless we are willing to accept betrayal in every aspect of our lives. Though this sounds pessimistic, the book is very funny and optimistically points out how we live with everything on which we cannot count.

Rating:
Summary: Love, History and Jewish Identity
Review: In this most elegantly written and constructed novel, the protagonist, Dr. Hester Rosenfeld is forced to confront her own Jewish identity as she pursues a love affair with a German professor twenty years her senior. Living in a small hotel in Munich in order to fulfill her role as the Other Woman, Hester denies the value of her own heritage, from rejecting her immigrant parents on. However, as an intelligent researcher she cannot avoid the questions about a Nazi connection to her lover/subject's past. This slowly leads Hester to acceptance of herself - and ultimately the moment of unresolvable conflict between German and Jew in the shadow of the Holocaust. This is a rich and complex exploration that is also entertaining and humorous. I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Universal Despair and Comedy
Review: This is a brilliant book, which is both funny and sad. If you read the book twice,the funny becomes sad, and the sad becomes funny--it's that kind of book--like a prism--and if you keep rereading it--the patterns change. In one way, this is a love story that can't escape history. A Jewish woman and a German man are bound to enter into a cultural conflict at some point. In another sense, however, this is the story of a relationship that we've all had. It's not enough to love--rather one has to go digging around for facts that will destroy love, and even if the facts really don't--we'll make an argument that they do. This book indicts both the historical past and the postmodern state of the heart. I highly recommend this book!