{"product_id":"not-a-novel-a-memoir-in-pieces-9780811229326","title":"Not a Novel: A Memoir in Pieces","description":"Jenny Erpenbeck's highly acclaimed novel \u003cem\u003eGo, Went, Gone\u003c\/em\u003e was a New York Times notable book and launched one of Germany's most admired writers into the American spotlight. In the New Yorker, James Wood wrote: \"When Erpenbeck wins the Nobel Prize in a few years, I suspect that this novel will be cited.\"\u003cbr\u003e On the heels of this literary breakthrough comes \u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e, a book of personal, profound, often humorous meditations and reflections. Erpenbeck writes, \"With this collection of texts, I am looking back for the first time at many years of my life, at the thoughts that filled my life from day to day.\"\u003cbr\u003e Starting with her childhood days in East Berlin (\"I start with my life as a schoolgirl ... my own conscious life begins at the same time as the socialist life of Leipziger Strasse\"), \u003cem\u003eNot a Novel\u003c\/em\u003e provides a glimpse of growing up in the GDR and of what it was like to be twenty-two when the wall collapsed; it takes us through Erpenbeck's early adult years, working in a bakery after immersing herself in the worlds of music, theater, and opera, and ultimately discovering her path as a writer.\u003cbr\u003e There are lively essays about her literary influences (Thomas Bernhard, the Brothers Grimm, Kafka, and Thomas Mann), unforgettable reflections on the forces at work in her novels (including history, silence, and time), and scathing commentaries on the dire situation of America and Europe today. \"Why do we still hear laments for the Germans who died attempting to flee over the wall, but almost none for the countless refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean in recent years, turning the sea into a giant grave?\"\u003cbr\u003e With deep insight and warm intelligence, Jenny Erpenbeck provides us with a collection of unforgettable essays that take us into the heart and mind of \"one of the finest and most exciting writers alive\" (Michel Faber).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eErpenbeck, Jenny:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eJenny Erpenbeck\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in East Berlin in 1967. New Directions publishes her books \u003cem\u003eThe Old Child \u0026amp; Other Stories\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Book of Words\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eVisitation\u003c\/em\u003e, which \u003cem\u003eNPR\u003c\/em\u003e called a story of the century as seen by the objects we've known and lost along the way.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeals, Kurt:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - In 2010 \u003cstrong\u003eKurt Beals\u003c\/strong\u003e was a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award for Anja Utler's \u003cem\u003eengulf-enkindle\u003c\/em\u003e, and in 2012 he won the first ever German Book Office Translation Prize. His translation of Regina Ullmann's \u003cem\u003eThe Country Road\u003c\/em\u003e was published by New Directions in 2015.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50528705577234,"sku":"9780811229326","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_7cf07eac-7492-4ccb-a097-1e4f88efa1db.jpg?v=1731334740","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/not-a-novel-a-memoir-in-pieces-9780811229326","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}