Großmama packt aus

by Irene Dische

In a rapidly told, just as fearless comic family saga gives her grandmother Irene Dische a very unique voice. The good Catholic Elisabeth Rother knows no taboos, no matter whether it is their marriage bed, to the Jews, is to the good Lord or the Gestapo. However, there is not a catastrophe, not even the flight to America or the Second World War, which they so busy as her widely branched clan. Irene Dische solves a virtuoso an eternal problem of the the autobiography. It is known that each enmeshed in a tangle lies that will describe his own life. Out of this dilemma is the author freed by themselves against the merciless gaze of their larger than life grandmother exposes. "Grandma takes out" is a touching and tragic-comic, German-Jewish history from the terrible twentieth century. 364 pages Hoffmann und Campe, 9 (October 2005) German 3,455,014,585 978-3455014587 Size and / or 23.2 x 14.2 cm x 2.8

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Germany, Historical, German Literature, American, Roman

364 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Irene Dische is an American writer, born and raised in the Washington Heights district of New York City.
She has studied Literature and Anthropology on the Harvard University. She was a freelance journalist (The New Yorker, The Nation). In the early 1980s, Dische moved to Berlin, Germany, and now she devides her time between Berlin and Rhinebeck, New York. A lot of her work is written in English, but often first published in German.

Irene Dische ist eine Amerikanisch, geboren und aufgewachsen in Washington Heights, New York City.
Sie hat Literatur und Anthropologie studiert an der Harvard University . Sie war freelance journalistin (The New Yorker, The Nation). In den frühen 1980er Jahren zog sie nach Berlin, Deutschland, und jetzt lebt sie abwechselnd in Berlin und in Rhinebeck, New York. Viele ihrer Werke sind in englischer Sprache verfasst, aber zuerst in deutscher Sprache herausgegeben.

Reviews

[Karen·]

I spend a deal of time driving at the moment, especially at the weekends when my go-to radio station tends to get taken over by commentary and analysis of soccer games and anyway te tum te tum dee doodle dee is fine for quick ten minute trips but an hour each way, well, it begins to grate. So I decided to at last try to finish this audiobook which was one of our choices for a previous long car journey. We tend to suffer from a strange kind of lethargy when it comes to exchanging CDs: our device holds five, this version consists of eight. Somehow the last three stayed in the box. Unfortunate when you don't remember about swapping the CDs until the car has already been strategically loaded for the return journey so that the boxes of wine are safe. What, you want me to take all that out again? No, don't bother.
I must say that Hannelore Hoger is brilliant as the narrator, if we lost interest it was not because of her. The story of three generations of a mixed Jewish-Catholic immigrant family was absorbing, shot through with humour, revealing of the dichotomy between the values of that old way of life and the brashness and glamour of the new. Irene Dische tells the story of her own family through the voice of the grandmother: this gets a little hokey when granny has to describe her own death, and once she's dead and speaking from inside the grave, she eventually loses interest in the further career of her granddaughter (who really did work with Louis Leakey) so that the last couple of CDs turn into a catalogue of characters dying off.
A six CD changer would have been ideal.

[Lucia Nieto Navarro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta novela es una memoria ficcionada desde el punto de vista de Elisabeth Rother, la narradora y protagonista de esta historia. Elisabeth nos va contar su vida, la de su hija Renate y la de su nieta Irene (como la autora, si).
La novela comienza con Elisabeth contando sus dificultades para tener un hijo con su esposo Carl, y la decepción de que cuando consigue quedarse embarazada sea una niña y no un niño. Nos encontramos en el año 1930 en Alemania, y Carl es judío, según va pasando el tiempo y las cosas se van poniendo mas complicada en este país, finalmente Carl se traslada a Estados Unidos y envía a su hija Renate escuela “privada”, y aunque no lo parezca por su humor, Elisabeth siempre intenta proteger a su familia, incluida la de Carl.
Elisabeth y Renate se unirán con Carl, y es ella quien seguirá llevando las riendas de la familia. Una protagonista divertida, que siempre desde el principio esta tratando el tema de la vejez. Es una historia conmovedora sobre una mujer extraordinaria.
En el principio del libro, Irene dice que eventos y personajes se inspiran en personas reales, pero los personajes y los diálogos son todos ficticios, entonces te quedas un poco pensando que será verdad y que será ficticio, sabemos que los hechos históricos son reales, pero más allá de eso, según leía me preguntaba si el abuso infantil, las aventuras de Irene en el extranjero…
Un libro contado en primera persona, con un humor que hace que la lectura sea mas ágil, y que en algunos momentos se hace algo mas lenta ya que no hay demasiados diálogos, pero recomiendo mucho para aquellos a los que le gusten las historias de personajes, que no tienen muchos giros y que cuentan una historia sin sobresaltos pero muy entretenida.
“ Después de los cuarenta, si te despiertas sin sentir ningún dolor, probablemente estés muerto”

[Arwen56 · Rating 2 out of 5]

“La nonna vuota il sacco” è una specie di saga famigliare, vista soprattutto dal lato femminile. Si parte dagli anni Venti e dall’Alta Slesia per finire negli anni Novanta in America, dopo la fuga dei Rother dalla Germania nazista.

A raccontare è Elisabeth, la moglie di Carl, ebreo convertitosi al cattolicesimo, nonché la nonna citata nel titolo, ormai dipartita, che di certo non ha inclinazioni introspettive mentre ci narra fatti su fatti e accadimenti su accadimenti. Si ha un po’ l’impressione di andare di corsa, con questo romanzo, di procedere di gran carriera per poter ripercorrere tutte le vicissitudini dei componenti della famiglia, che, però, in tal modo finiscono per restare piuttosto indefiniti, più “macchiette” che persone vere. Non si prova per loro una reale empatia, né interessa più di tanto quel gli succede. O, almeno, per me è stato così.

Lo stile di scrittura si adegua alla struttura del narrato, per cui è generalmente leggero, umoristico e ironico, contribuendo a rafforzare il distacco del lettore.

L’autrice è quella stessa Irene Dische, che, in qualità di nipote, fa parte anche del racconto, ma non ho idea sino a che punto la propria rappresentazione sia davvero autobiografica, perché non conosco per nulla la sua vita.

La mia impressione è, in generale, che sia divertita molto più lei a scrivere di quanto potrà mai fare chiunque prenda in mano un libro, che, a tratti, sconfina nel noioso per la sua superficialità.

[Inga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irene Dische lässt ihre Großmutter aus dem Grab heraus die Familiengeschichte ihrer eigenen Familie erzählen. Dabei werden jüdisch-katholische Religionskonflikte, Auswanderergeschichte, der Wandel der Geschlechterrollen im Verlauf der drei Generationen, Mutter-Tochter-Beziehungen und vieles mehr thematisiert. Erzählt wird abwechslungsreich, teils mit konservativen, egomanischem Blick auf das Geschehen, teils erfrischend selbstironisch.
Unterhaltsam.

[Marisolera · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia de tres mujeres, madre, hija y nieta, cada una muy particular y con un carácter distinto.

Elizabeth nace en Alemania, es católica y se casa con un judío que se convierte al catolicismo. Cuando las cosas se ponen complicadas, manda al marido fuera de Alemania y ella se queda, batallando con las SS que pretenden que se divorcie del marido judío y buscando y tratando de proteger a su familia política y sobre todo a Renate, una hija "mixta" y por lo tanto posible víctima de los nazis.

[La Repisa de Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"La emperatriz del nuevo mundo" es una joya literaria que nos transporta a través del tiempo y nos sumerge en un océano de sentimientos.

Irene Dische, con su pluma magistral, logra capturar la esencia de la añoranza y transmitirla de manera tan vívida que resulta imposible no conectar con sus personajes. Sus descripciones detalladas nos hacen revivir aquellos escenarios del siglo XX, cuando numerosas personas se vieron obligadas a huir del terror nazi.

El estilo de escritura de Dische es elegante y cautivador. Su prosa fluye con facilidad y su habilidad para retratar escenas y personajes es destacable.

Con su minuciosa investigación histórica y su prosa refinada, esta obra es una lectura imprescindible para aquellos que disfrutan de las novelas históricas y las historias de mujeres fuertes y empoderadas.
@larepisadeelena

[Hester · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a horrible story based on the life of the author's grandmother. What I thought would be a delightful fish out of water tale ended up being a truly disturbing story full of bigotry. No one in this story comes off as sympathic, best to not even bother with it.

[Agnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo abbandono, mi dispiace ma non riesco a reggere questa scrittura, verranno tempi migliori.

[Evalitera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tolle Großmutter

[Mareike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Irene Dische schreibt die Biografie ihrer Großmutter:
Geburt der Tochter Renate, Leben in Oberschlesien mit einem jüdischen Mann, dessen Flucht über Paris nach New York und das darauffolgende, gemeinsame Leben in New York.
Der Erzähler soll hierbei die Großmutter, Fr. Dr. Rother, sein, ist dabei aber allwissend (die Informationen, die der Leser bekommt, gehen nach dem Tod der "Großmama" weiter.) Rother ist sehr gottesfürchtig und auch ziemlich rassistisch, was in mir keine Sympathien, vielmehr Abneigung und Verachtung, weckte.

Zwischendrin erzählt die Autorin jedoch viel mehr aus ihrem eigenen Leben und versucht aus Ereignissen, die Jahr(zehnt)e vor ihrer Geburt liegen, auf sich selbst, ihr Leben und ihren Charakter zu schließen, was für mich einfach nur egozentrisch wirkte und von der eigentlichen Geschichte ablenkte. Hinzu kommen Zeitsprünge, die die Geschehnisse etwas auseinander reißen.

Die Geschichte selbst ist interessant, das Gefühl, in der Neuen Welt angekommen zu sein, die Schwierigkeit, eine Bleibe zu finden und sich an die neue Kultur zu gewöhnen, neue Bekanntschaften zu schließen und seine Heimat hinter sich lassen zu können. Nervig wird es jedoch regelmäßig durch Einwürfe wie:"Das hat Gott so gewollt.","Ich bete für sie." oder "... . Sünde der Bescheidenheit... Sünde der Neugier... Sünde der ..."

Wer sich damit abfinden kann, dass ständig Gott erwähnt, in die Kirche gegangen, über Juden gelästert und gebetet wird, dem empfehle ich dieses Buch. (Also vermutlich niemandem.)

[Penelope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Normally, I am drawn to books with fast moving or involved plots but not the case with this book. What I like most about it was the character development. The subtle nuance of the characters that at first blush you think you should hate but on closer inspection you love.

The book won't change your life but it was certainly adds color to your landscape.

[Allison Ketchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Empress of Weehawken is a faux memoir from the point-of-view of Elisabeth Rother, leading us through her amazing life and the lives of her daughter, Renate, and her granddaughter, Irene. Yes, Irene, as in Irene Dische, the author. But as Elisabeth would say, more on that later. At first glance, Elisabeth is an unrepentant snob, an anti-Semite who marries a Jew, a borderline abusive mother, and if I had put aside the book after fifty or so pages, I would have come away disliking Elisabeth despite her amusing turns of phrase. Dische has absolutely nailed Elisabeth's incisive, witty, condescending, observant voice, and though Elisabeth says she is anti-Semitic and disdainful of the lower classes, Dische allows her actions to tell a more nuanced story. By the end of the story, I adored Elisabeth, and though I'm not a big crier while reading, I wept at the end.

The story begins with Elisabeth telling of her difficulties conceiving with her husband Carl, and Elisabeth's disappointment that the eventual child (Renate) is a girl. It is the 1930s in Germany and Carl is a Jew, regardless his conversion to Elisabeth's Catholicism before their wedding. As life becomes more and more restrictive, Elisabeth bullies the Catholic church into helping relocate him to America. She sends Renate to a convent school as a "good Catholic girl." Elisabeth's strength of spirit becomes very clear as she protects her family, and even attempts to help Carl's family using her family connections (her brother Otto is in the SS). Though Elisabeth is the one with the "good breeding" and noble family, it is Carl who is most scathing in his judgments about Jews, and Carl who enforces class delineations (though Elisabeth pays lip service to the idea of keeping the servant class in their place, her relationship with Liesel belies that position). In Part II, Elisabeth and Renate join Carl in America, where they have nowhere to stay, as Carl's unbelievable behavior has put him on the outs with the Catholic church. Elisabeth takes the reins of the family and steers them toward assimilation and even prosperity. After the war, she deals with the bitter correspondence from family, friends, and even unknown Germans, who congratulate her on getting out of Germany and ask for handouts. Her response is inspiring. Dische weaves the lives of Renate and Irene through Elisabeth's narrative, and Elisabeth often invokes a subject, promising to return to it later. Elisabeth is very, very funny on a variety of subjects. On old age: "After forty, if you wake up without feeling any pain, then you're probably dead." On Heinz kosher baked beans: "They came in glass jars, and the inside of the cap, if you put your nose right up to it, smelled like pork. It was some kind of trick. I believe this was used by the Jewish manufacturer to attract his own pork-starved people, and that trick is as much proof as one needs about the ingenuity of the race."

Irene Dische has placed this disclaimer before Chapter One: "Certain events and characters in this novel were inspired by real people and events. But the actual events, characters, and dialogue depicted are all fictional." If anything, the knowledge of the author's own connection to the story, was a minor drawback to me. On occasion, I was pulled out of the story wondering if the events were actually true (not just true to the story); the incidences of child abuse (did the maid/nanny actually lock the real Irene in a closet for punishment, leaving the house when the screaming got on her nerves? and, oh, the pants-wetting thing!) and Irene's wild adventures abroad (did some intervention actually abort the near-rape experiences of Irene, or is she rewriting her history our of wishful thinking? or did those scenes never happen at all?) I know that "real life" is very popular right now. Memoirs pop up right and left, and don't get me started on reality television. And if Irene hadn't been a character in her own book, I would have had no issues at all with the "inspired by real people and events"--in fact, I would have thought it an ingenious idea to write a biography of one's grandmother from the grandmother's point of view. Wondering about the truth of Irene's story was only a minor nuisance, but it did, at times, distract me from the story. Nevertheless, this is an engaging, moving story about an extraordinary woman, and I certainly recommend it.

[Janet Isenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the other reviews and their negative comments, I would guess that most Americans can't identify with the immigrant viewpoint and the loss of one's identity upon coming to a new world. While my family was nothing like this fictional one, as the first generation American child of German and Austrian immigrants, the characters and their personalities rang true to me. While not usually laugh-out-loud funny, here is my favorite paragraph: "I slammed down the receiver. Those telephones were the last ones you could use to make a point. Nowadays, this expression of disapproval has been removed from the repertoire of communication. A quickly disconnected line can mean bad reception, or a wrong movement of one's hand. But back then, one even had a choice in the degree to which one slammed the phone - savagely or reluctantly, the other party could hear it clearly. Dische knew I was angry. But he didn't call back."

This book was bought for me by a cousin from Berlin as a bridge between Berlin and New Jersey. I read it on the plane during a business trip to Houston and found it totally absorbing. I didn't always like the characters or how they behaved, but that wasn't the point, was it?

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend of mine from Germany recommended Irene Dische to me. Although this wasn't one of the works she recommended (it was what I could get first at the library), I really enjoyed the novel and it made me pick up a few other works by Dische. The narrator really makes this novel. It's "told" by a deceased matriarch who is supposed to be the author's grandmother. This grandmother glosses over her family's escape from Germany during WWII and focuses upon what she sees as the mistakes of her family. Yet at the same time, she also shows signs of being proud of her family and seeing herself in them. Her complicated feelings towards her daughter and granddaughter, which she never really attempts to analyze, make the novel a delight to read. She's also just hilarious, sometimes without trying to be. Best of all, this novel gives you a lot to think about without beating you over the head with life lessons or a neat moral. It's more complex than that.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische recounts the life of Frau Dr. Elizabeth Rother grandmother and matriarch of a multigenerational clan in this historic novel. Told in a four-part flashback, she narrates her life starting in pre-World War II Germany and then moving to America and Weehawken, New Jersey. She shares her opinion about everything including master-servant relationships, plastic surgery, religion and proper table manners. She rules her family, from her medical examiner daughter, Renate, to her free spirit granddaughter, Irene, and simultaneously exults and despairs over their life decisions. Humorous and occasionally flippant, this novel is a surprisingly unsentimental look at unconventional women.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel was advertised as being funny, but the humor passed me by. I found the main character such a negative person, exactly the kind of toxic personality every friend, therapist or magazine article you have ever read about relating would advise you to remove from your life. There is kind of a happy ending, but it was more pathetic than warm. I was left wondering why did I read this?

As I have found in other books, the best part of this one was the non-standard hisorical detail of living through WWII in Germany and what it was like to immigrate to the US afterwards. So, I guess the characters served some purpose in bringing that period to life for me.

[Carol Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny family saga written in the voice of the author's grandmother. The aristocratic "empress" escapes from the Nazis with her Jewish husband and they settle in New Jersey. I enjoyed reading of her frustration with her "impossible" daughter and granddaughter.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life of a German Catholic immigrant married to a converted Jew who escaped the Holocaust. Great connections between the lives of her family and her best friend and how one generation enriches and infects the next.

[Darshan Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir-of-sorts is perverse and perfect. Dische's telling of her grandmother's eccentricities and predicaments is brilliant. My favorite book this year.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toward the end I lost patience with the unreliable narrator conceit, especially once she became an omnisciently unreliable narrator.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Ah, voi giovani! Non gioite troppo della vostra giovinezza, poiché dovete ancora affrontare un lungo cammino pieno di insidie prima di arrivare alla parte davvero piacevole della vita. I primi decenni dell’esistenza sono un’unica, lunga, estenuante, umiliante lotta per poter avere almeno un momento tra le mani la leva del comando. Ogni giorno si è nuovamente in balia dei propri desideri. Quando finalmente ci si calma e si accetta la propria sorte, si è a metà della vita, e già un po’ più vicini alla felicità, ma rimangono ancora faticosi anni di struggimenti e rimpianti. E nell’età di mezzo la guerra tra i sessi entra in una fase rovente. […] Ma, come il purgatorio, la mezza età è di durata limitata. Marciate dunque avanti, incontro alla vostra meta! La magica età dei settanta. È allora che la vita diventa di per sé una delizia. […] Dopo i settanta la guerra tra i sessi si interrompe improvvisamente. È tempo di pace. Uomini e donne finiscono per assomigliarsi sempre di più: ora tutti perdono i capelli, e persino i seni degli uomini pendono molli in basso, mentre il didietro delle donne diventa piatto come una frittella. Niente di più vicino al paradiso in terra. Uomini e donne smettono di pretendere l’impossibile gli uni dalle altre. I rapporti diventano più affettuosi, non ci sono più gli sviamenti delle carriere. Rimane solo il piacere dell’altro. E se un altro non c’è più, rimane sempre la gioia più grande, la gioia per se stessi: la bocca piena di cibo delizioso, un cielo senza nuvole. Dovrete aspettare decenni, voi giovani, perché queste cose semplici e banali vi colmino di vera delizia.” (pp. 295, 296)

[Mareike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Buch habe ich als Hörbuch gehört und es wurde von Hannelore Höger gelesen. Ich glaube, das war genau die richtige Entscheidung. Hannelore Höger hat genau den richtigen Ton getroffen, um Elisabeth Rother eine Stimme zu geben. Ironisch, manchmal bitter böse, mit einer gehörigen Portion Vorurteile, glaubt man sehr schnell die Gedanken einer besser gestellten alten Dame aus der Vorkriegszeit zu hören. Trocken kommentiert sie dabei ihr eigenes Leben, das ihrer Tochter Renate und ihrer Enkelin Irene und setzt so manche Pointe. Ich glaube nicht, dass mir das Buch so gut gefallen hätte, wenn ich es „nur“ selbst gelesen hätte. Ein Punkt Abzug gibt es, weil ich gerne noch mehr über Elisabeths eigenes Leben gehört hätte und mit der Fokus auf Renate und Irene manchmal zu stark war.

[HediBähren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Familiengeschichte der Autorin. Die Großeltern flüchteten in der Nazizeit nach USA und bauten sich dort eine Existenz auf. Ihre Enkelin Irene war als Kind, Jugendliche und als junge Frau äußerst widerspenstig und einfach "unmöglich" und machte den Eltern und Großeltern ständig Ärger und Scherereien. Humorvoll erzählt.

[C.P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me interesa la primera parte, cómo no, esa Weimar que desaparece poco a poco sin que salte la alarma. Me interesa la huida Estados Unidos. Me interesan las reflexiones sobre la vejez (la cosa de los dolores, y de la plenitud a los 70 y eso). Y alguna de las historias sueltas son divertidas. Pero en general la veo incoherente y tontorrona. Incluido el final, por supuesto.

[Maria-E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hörbuch: Gelesen von Hannelore Hoger. Das hat mich bis fast zum Schluss durchhalten lassen.
Eine Familie wandert nach Amerika aus, als die Nazis an die Macht kommen. Es wird der normale, unspektakuläre Alltag beschrieben. Viele Längen, manchmal amüsant.

[Bruno Laschet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traurige Geschichte aus der Nazizeit, die aber auch teilweise humorvoll erzählt wird. Sie erstreckt sich über 5 Generation und das Buch wurde von der Enkelin geschrieben. Hannelore Hoger hat das Hörbuch gesprochen und das sehr gut!

[Roxanne Tibbits · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...nothing beats a daughter." My favorite line from the book. It also sums up the book - relationships between mothers and daughters. Beautiful!

[Sandras Mix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seltsam.

[Loewenstroh]

DNF at 20 %

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr lustig und spannende Familiengeschichte