Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder’s Reviews > Half Swimmer > Status Update

9. Back on Speaking Terms ***** It is 10 years since Tanja was with the actor Kurt (so she is 28?) and now he has died. She goes to the funeral where there are many theatre people. Surprisingly her father turns up as well, but they avoid speaking to each other. Tanja thinks of the happy times with Kurt and how he was a replacement figure for a cold-hearted military officer father.

8. Cut *** Tanja attends an opera premiere where her husband Konrad is the conductor. The performance goes well and there is a celebration afterwards. Tanja observes members of the audience and the performers but is constantly thinking about getting her hair cut, while drinking as much champagne as she can.

7. Seventy-Two Steps *** Tanja has broken up with Kurt and has moved in with friend Nina, whose front door is 72 steps from a corner curb. Benno and Jeff are housemates/lovers. All have some connection to the theatrical or film world. As an aside it is mentioned that the Wall has come down. Tanja discovers she is pregnant and goes walking while playing the “don’t step on the cracks” game to distract and delay.

6. What Custom Strictly Divided **** Tanja (who is maybe 18 now and has left high school) brings her 48-year-old boyfriend Kurt (an actor) along as her New Year’s Eve date to hear Beethoven’s 9th with her parents. Disapproval occurs. The title is a line from Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” in the Finale choral movement of the 9th: “Was die Mode streng geteilt.“

5. Ruckedigu ***** Tanja tells stories of times with her grandparents. Riding to shopping along with them in their 2-seater Krause Duo car (motorcycle?). Time spent with her grandfather at his pigeon coop. My favourite so far from this book. The title seems to be a German word to express the sounds a pigeon makes.

4. The Letter **** Tanja has written some sort of letter to the Ministry of Education about which everyone is upset including her parents and teachers. A ministry official is scheduled to have a meeting with her at the school.

3. Herr O *** Tanja observes how Herr Oschlies, a work colleague of both her teacher mother and military father, is a regular visitor at their home, especially when the father is away.

2. Half Swimmer ** This seems a bit short and inconsequential to be the title story for the book, but I suppose it is meant symbolically to cover the whole coming-of-age. The German Halbschwimmer is explained in the epigraph as “A German term for one who has recently learned to swim but hasn’t mastered the technique.” Otherwise a story about being force taught to swim and skin peeling from sunburn.

This is the new English language translation of Oskamp's first book (2003). It is a coming of age story of a girl growing up in East Germany before the wall came down. It is in the "novel told in short stories" style of Marzahn, mon amour: Geschichten einer Fußpflegerin (2019) which had a breakthrough success in English translation also from Peirene Press as Marzahn, mon amour (2022).