This novel is the equivalent of a European film. You know how American movies always have explosions, car chases & a mystery to be solved, but many European movies are filled with people talking about relationships? That’s what happens here.
It’s early December in Berlin and a pre-war apartment building contains our 2 main characters. Hope, an American woman who moved to Germany to be with her husband, Dave, who is always off on business trips, leaving her alone in a city where she doesn’t speak the language. Lonely and unable to come to terms with a recent miscarriage, she spends most of her days soaking in the bathtub. On the floor above lives Walter, an aging actor who dubs Tom Cruise’s German voice in movies released in that country. Walter’s lover, an actress, leaves him at the beginning of the book, but he doesn’t really seem to mind. Both characters are in a sort of limbo, not liking where they are, but not having the ability to move forward.
Walter and Hope meet in the elevator after he sees her arguing with her husband and a friendship blossoms. They spend a lot of time drinking coffee and talking. Having a friend gives Hope courage to begin exploring the city and start thinking of the future. For Walter, it makes him want to take a new direction in his life and become a better person. We watch each of them awake to possibilities, deal with the past and expand in their relationship.
Nothing big or exciting happens in the book, but we enjoy getting to know Hope and Walter more and become emotionally involved with them. There are some touching moments and subtle humor, but the best thing about the novel is it’s quiet testament to the rejuvenating power of friendship, something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
Riverhead Books 2008 303 pp. ISBN 978-1-50448-997-6
It sounds like a terrific book, Jackie. I like the idea of a story about a friendship … which really can be one of the most life-altering relationships of all.
It does sound good. Some of my favourite books have rather small-scale plots, but they are very compelling and keep the reader turning the pages.
Unusual cover image btw. I can’t quite make it out, but it reminds me of a greeting card.
Lisa, the cover is a line drawing of 2 people sitting at a table with food, no doubt intended to be the 2 main characters. There are smudges of faded color here & there, probably to liven up the plain drawing. It’s subdued, just like the book itself.