Reading German Books in 2020 discussion

I finished a new edition from NYRB Classics of writer and critic Siegfried Kracauer's 1920s novel Ginster an unusual take on the anti-war novels that were popular in the Weimar era. Although it could be dense and challenging there were times when I found it superb, so many memorable lines and images.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My second choice was Khuê Pham’s semi-autobiographical Brothers and Ghosts an account of a family fractured by vastly different experiences of the war in Vietnam, recounted by a Vietnamese German woman who slowly uncovers her family's traumatic past.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My third choice was a new edition of Austrian novelist's 1950s novel Count Luna a fascinating, slightly gothic take on Austrian society during and after WW2 - particularly the failure to examine the morality of choices made during the war.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My fourth choice a debut novel from Swiss artist/playwright Ariane Koch Overstaying which won a Swiss literature prize and the Aspect Literature award for best debut novel in German. An elusive, sometimes challenging series of reflections on gender, power as well as postcolonial issues around refugees and the displaced. Witty, surreal, demanding, and thought-provoking - shades of Walser and Kafka.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My fifth choice was Yoko Tawada's Spontaneous Acts published in the US under the title Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel and originally in Germany as Paul Celan und der chinesische Engel. Great as an intro to the life and poetry of Romanian Jewish author Paul Celan. I had some interest in his work already and enjoyed seeing how it was reformulated and incorporated in Tawada's narrative but I didn't find this entirely convincing as a novel.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...