EBOOK
About
A wise and subtle work that explores the refractive power of memory, and what it means to exist in the lives of others—from one of the most highly regarded writers working in Germany today.
When Judith Hermann runs into her psychoanalyst in the middle of the night on Berlin's Kastanienallee, the meeting sparks an exploration of the moments and memories that have made a life: an intense friendship with another young mother; an unconventional childhood with long summers spent on the German coast; and the ties of familial trauma that echo through generations.
In three interconnected sections at once confessional and lyrical, We Would Have Told Each Other Everything explores how the life and work of the writer converge and depart from each other when memory is no longer reliable and dreams intrude on reality.
When Judith Hermann runs into her psychoanalyst in the middle of the night on Berlin's Kastanienallee, the meeting sparks an exploration of the moments and memories that have made a life: an intense friendship with another young mother; an unconventional childhood with long summers spent on the German coast; and the ties of familial trauma that echo through generations.
In three interconnected sections at once confessional and lyrical, We Would Have Told Each Other Everything explores how the life and work of the writer converge and depart from each other when memory is no longer reliable and dreams intrude on reality.
Related Subjects
Reviews
"Very occasionally a book comes along that feels as if it were written just for me, and this is one of those rare books. All my life's defining concerns, as a writer and a woman, are here - ageing, home, the past, losing people, secrets, childhood, strategies of disclosure, the purpose of art and the relationship it has to life - god, that is an ongoing riddle - and Hermann conveys and examines th
Claire Louise-Bennett, author of Pond
"Judith Hermann understands better than anyone that something unspoken must lie at the core of every story. We Would Have Told Each Other Everything is a precise meditation on the mysteries and risks of storytelling - and a haunting account of a life lived in close communion with ghosts and dreams, with chosen and given families. Just like in her stories, Hermann never draws too close to the shado
Dorothee Elmiger, author of Out of the Sugar Factory
"[D]eeply affecting... the work is tightly and satisfyingly unified by the depth and intelligence of the narration. Readers are fortunate to have this remarkable meditation on family, identity, and writing from a master storyteller."
Publisher's Weekly