Als zij begint te vertellen (original 2005; edition 2006)

by Irene Dische

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303	15	86,467	(3.99)	6
At the end of what is (she cannot help observing) an extraordinary life, Elisabeth Rother has decided to write her memoirs. She recounts her narrow escape with her Jewish husband from the Nazis, and the perilous voyage to the New World of New Jersey, but those, for her, are mere facts of life. For Elisabeth, bighearted and obstinate, the most bothersome and consuming subjects are the unconventional paths and waywardness of her daughter, Renate, and her granddaughter, Irene. The Empress of Weehawken is a curiously touching love letter to the difficult but sustaining love of mothers and daughters. Written in the voice of the author's very real grandmother, it is "superb . . . razor-sharp, desert-dry, and luxuriantly ironic" (The San Diego Union-Tribune).… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	jefke
Title:	Als zij begint te vertellen
Authors:	Irene Dische
Info:	Amsterdam Querido 2006
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

The Empress of Weehawken: A Novel by Irene Dische (2005)

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English (12) German (3) Italian (1) All languages (16)

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Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)

I liked this but it was too long. Still, a remarkably sustained narrative voice - a Catholic German woman married to a Jew who immigrates to NJ during WWII. Very funny in parts, but it never quite gelled for me. (

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laurenbufferd | Nov 14, 2016 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

I loved reading this book. The narrator is very interesting, and the first person narrative adds a bit of charm to the book, even if the narrator is not very nice most of the time. I would definitely recommend it for a light read. (

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maria.owen | Jul 27, 2009 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

This was an OK book for me. The narrator wasn't exactly the kind of person I like to be around--abrasive, conceited, insensitive, critical, and rather crude. That, and the fact that her non-stop smart-mouth humor gets a bit tiresome, made it a bit hard to engage with her story. In fact, style seems here to overwhelm the story. There was just something a bit too forced, too obviously "girlie" (as in "story of an independent woman") for my taste. (

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Cariola | Jul 8, 2009 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

I loved this book, especially the tempo. Full of humor and brutally honest at times, the author takes pains to explore the complex dynamic between the three generations, and more specifically, the three individual women. Beautifully written, at times tragic, I would highly recommend. (

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ThePinkPanther | Jul 7, 2009 |

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

At first, I found this book a little bit hard to break into, but after some time I did become attached to the story. The narrator is golden - she is certainly my favorite part of the book, hands down.

The few things I did find weird were the seemingly random capitalization of some nouns, and the at times slightly vague writing style. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't immensely wowed by it. (

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cinesnail88 | Jun 1, 2009 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Irene Dische	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Kaiser, Reinhard	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

dtv (13521)

I narratori delle tavole [Neri Pozza]

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Canonical title

Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Grossmama packt aus

Original title

Grossmama packt aus

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2005

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

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Zweiter Weltkrieg

Holocaust

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

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Dass meine Enkeltochter so schwierig ist, hängt vor allem mit Carls geringer Spermiendichte zusammen.

Quotations

Last words

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Original language

Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Amerikanisch

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Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

At the end of what is (she cannot help observing) an extraordinary life, Elisabeth Rother has decided to write her memoirs. She recounts her narrow escape with her Jewish husband from the Nazis, and the perilous voyage to the New World of New Jersey, but those, for her, are mere facts of life. For Elisabeth, bighearted and obstinate, the most bothersome and consuming subjects are the unconventional paths and waywardness of her daughter, Renate, and her granddaughter, Irene. The Empress of Weehawken is a curiously touching love letter to the difficult but sustaining love of mothers and daughters. Written in the voice of the author's very real grandmother, it is "superb . . . razor-sharp, desert-dry, and luxuriantly ironic" (The San Diego Union-Tribune).

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