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Description for Dark Room
Paperback. "The Dark Room" tells three stories: that of Helmut a young photographer in the 1930s; Lore a 12-year-old girl at the end of the war; and Micha, a young school teacher, half a century later. Between them, the reader traces the legacy of the Nazi period on the lives of ordinary Germans. Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 131 x 25. Weight in Grams: 284. Good clean copy with some minor shelf wear
The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.
The Dark Room tells the stories of three ordinary Germans: Helmut, a young photographer in Berlin in the 1930s who uses his craft to express his patriotic fervour; Lore, a twelve-year-old girl who in 1945 guides her young siblings across a devastated Germany after her Nazi parents are seized by the Allies; and, fifty years later, Micha, a young teacher obsessed with what his loving grandfather did in the war, struggling to deal with the past of his family and his country.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2002
Publisher
Vintage
Condition
Used, Very Good
Number of Pages
400
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780099287179
SKU
KKD0001833
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
Ref
99-1
About Rachel Seiffert
The daughter of a German mother and an Australian father, Rachel Seiffert has spent most of her life in Oxford and Glasgow. She now lives in Berlin.
Reviews for Dark Room
Intensely observed debut… Perfectly balanced
Guardian
A startlingly powerful debut... Not to be missed
Daily Mail
Ambitious and powerful... Seiffert writes lean, clean prose. Deftly, she hangs large ideas on the vivid private experiences of her principal characters.... Poignant - and ultimately optimistic... Engrossing
New York Times
What a bold book... Compelling... Challenging and substantial
Time Out
Guilt, shame, responsibility, new beginnings, the individual in history - these are Seiffert's subjects, conveyed in a style of deceptive simplicity... Provocative and accomplished
The Times
Explores the experience of "ordinary" Germans...the descendants of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers...and poses questions about the country's psychological and political inheritance with rare insight and humanity
New Yorker
A stunning trilogy of linked stories about the Holocaust. Seiffert's book reminds me of Bernard Schlink's The Reader, but unlike that fascinating and intellectually provocative discussion about complicity and collective guilt, The Dark Room never veers away from its fictional roots... It doesn't read like a first novel
Toronto Globe and Mail
Excellent...a very readable, imaginative attempt to hold essential truths in living memory
The Economist
It should be on everyone's reading lists
Sunday Times
The hopelessness of love and passion during one of history's darkest hours is gently eked out... Questions of identity, loyalty and secrets are unavoidable, whether they stand uniformed and proud or lie hidden in a photo album. The Dark Room offers a haunting perspective on the ripples the most extraordinary of actions can cause. Seiffert is sparing with historical specifics, crafting the tale so lovingly that the most affecting moments lie in words unspoken and truths untold
Scotland on Sunday
Guardian
A startlingly powerful debut... Not to be missed
Daily Mail
Ambitious and powerful... Seiffert writes lean, clean prose. Deftly, she hangs large ideas on the vivid private experiences of her principal characters.... Poignant - and ultimately optimistic... Engrossing
New York Times
What a bold book... Compelling... Challenging and substantial
Time Out
Guilt, shame, responsibility, new beginnings, the individual in history - these are Seiffert's subjects, conveyed in a style of deceptive simplicity... Provocative and accomplished
The Times
Explores the experience of "ordinary" Germans...the descendants of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers...and poses questions about the country's psychological and political inheritance with rare insight and humanity
New Yorker
A stunning trilogy of linked stories about the Holocaust. Seiffert's book reminds me of Bernard Schlink's The Reader, but unlike that fascinating and intellectually provocative discussion about complicity and collective guilt, The Dark Room never veers away from its fictional roots... It doesn't read like a first novel
Toronto Globe and Mail
Excellent...a very readable, imaginative attempt to hold essential truths in living memory
The Economist
It should be on everyone's reading lists
Sunday Times
The hopelessness of love and passion during one of history's darkest hours is gently eked out... Questions of identity, loyalty and secrets are unavoidable, whether they stand uniformed and proud or lie hidden in a photo album. The Dark Room offers a haunting perspective on the ripples the most extraordinary of actions can cause. Seiffert is sparing with historical specifics, crafting the tale so lovingly that the most affecting moments lie in words unspoken and truths untold
Scotland on Sunday