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Loading... Book of Clouds (original 2009; edition 2009)by Chloe Aridjis
Work InformationBook of Clouds by Chloe Aridjis (2009)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A whimsical story of Berlin where the city is the main character despite the oddity of the of the central figure. The ghostliness verging on spirituality attributed to buildings and places reminds you that the author is Mexican and not everything is as it seems. There are echoes of Pedro Paramo in the background. As good a guide to life in Berlin as any. no reviews | add a review
Tatiana settles in Berlin, distancing herself from her family, and takes a job transcribing notes for historian, Doktor Weiss, who introduces her to Jonas, a meteorologist. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The tone is brilliantly set from the opening paragraph: "It was an evening when the moral remains of the city bobbed up to the surface and floated like driftwood before sinking back down to the seabed to further splinter and rot." Now there's a sentence to make any city's Chamber of Commerce fall to its knees in pain.
The narrative vehicle for this contemporary analysis of Berlin is the story of Tatiana, a young woman from a Mexican Jewish family, who has lived in Berlin for several years. She muddles along in the post-German reunification haze, working part-time for a historian, transcribing his spoken notes. She has difficulty making any real connection with people or work and bounces along on each path, unable to settle anywhere for long. Berlin's past seems to colonize her imagination, leaving her unbalanced in the present. Ultimately an act of violence (with a resolution from the school of urban magical realism) prompts her to sever ties with the city and return to her family in Mexico.
All in all, a well-written debut novel to be read for its take on the interplay of past and present. ( )