Welcome to Litsy!

There is so much to love about this book.

I love the mystical, gleeful first half, and now, having reread it, I have come to love the much darker, more harrowing second half and the cathartic epilogue.

I love the fact that Seiler‘s words and sentences are humming and buzzing with poetic ambiguity and beauty throughout.

I love the way the political turmoil of 1989 is reduced to a single, faraway location and a handful of characters.

Masterful.

Last year there was a movie adaptation of it in German TV and now I would really like to watch it. On the one hand. On the other hand I know that many things and details the film script must have let out. But it would be interesting on what aspect of the story the movie focuses.

I will research a bit over all the allusions made. Maybe I read about the poet Trakl. His work plays quite a role in Ed‘s “stocks”. (“Stocks” what a brilliant idea. ❤️)

Winner of the “Deutscher Buchpreis” with good reason. I am absolutely in love with the art of using language.
Nevertheless the story hard to review. It‘s about friendship – and startling how the historical development is ignored by the plot for the most time. When history comes into focus I began to like the story less. That‘s where I think it dragged a bit.

But the last chapter was really impressive _because_ it made German history vivid.

So far, I like this one very much. It hooked me a bit. I like how it‘s narrated. Kind of slowly. The author takes his time to introduce the protagonist Ed and I like the details woven in. Like Matthew, the cat. Like the way how Ed ended up at the “Klausner”. The writing style implies that Seiler knows very well what he is writing about. I like that and it makes me want to travel to see the places mentioned in the story.

Another audiobook for my commute. It‘s set on the island of Hiddensee in the environment of the seasonal workers and social drop-outs shortly before the breakdown of GDR in 1989. It‘s he story of the friendship between the student Edgar Bendler who studies German studies and the kitchen assistant Alexey Krusowitsch, named Kruso who is well recognised as an authority in the community of the seasonal workers.

This was delightfully magical, though threaded through with a sense of regret, too; that there are realms we cannot visit except with the imagination of a child, though it isn‘t until we‘re well past childhood that we have a proper appreciation for those magical escapes. Like all of Maguire‘s works, this was masterfully-crafted. Definite pick. #hiddensee #gregorymaguire #thenutcracker

Trying to spend some quality time with the book while also trying to drown this damned cold with as much Candy Cane Lane tea as I can make. You‘d think people would realize not to ask me questions that require long answers when they realize I have no voice. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤧 (People are dumb.) #hiddensee #gregorymaguire

My boss told me I could work half a day today, but...if all I‘m going to be doing is sitting at home until then, I might as well go to work and sit there and get paid for it. Gonna‘ try to make it there by 9:30, even though I‘m currently sitting on my bed with “Hiddensee.” #hiddensee #gregorymaguire

I woke up sick on Christmas Eve, and haven‘t been able to kick it yet; I have the rest of today to just curl up in bed before I have to go to work for four days straight, eight hours each day, so here‘s hoping that by tomorrow, I‘m all better. (I‘m pretty paranoid, tbh, because the way I feel is exactly how I felt this time last year. 😐) We‘ll see if today involves more reading, or more napping. #hiddensee #gregorymaguire

Once I spotted this little guy on the tree at work, I couldn‘t pass up setting up a photo op. 😉 Getting a little bit of seasonal reading in during this last half-day before our holiday break! 🎄 #hiddensee #gregorymaguire #thenutcracker #retelling