Hester Among the Ruins: A Novel
by Binnie Kirshenbaum

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Book Reviews of Hester Among the Ruins: A Novel

Book Review: "Ich bin ein Berliner"
Summary: 5 Stars

But the story soon takes a more dangerous twist when the ambitious and well assimilated Hester Rosenfeld who has so far only devoted herself to American colonial history falls in love with her German advisor, professor Heinrich Falk, who is twenty years older than her. On the spur of the moment she throws all caution to the wind and decides to write his biography as "a typical German" of the post-war generation, who was "born in the shadows of history", in Germany's darkness and shame.

This "project" which is part of a charming and innocent "folie ? deux" is by its very nature bound to fail, but Binnie Kirshenbaum is a skilful and clever author who derives an amazing amount of insight from her first person narrator's futile attempts to deal with the horrors of the past and the oddities of the present. Not only does Hester Rosenfeld meet many quirky German characters in her quest, not only does she realize how much the feelings of guilt have created an uneasy mixture of shame and philosemitism in Germany, but she eventually becomes aware of her own Jewishness in ways that she didn't know about in her earlier life.

The result is a fascinating, dark, sexy novel, full of light, funny moments.

I've followed Binnie Kirshenbaum's earlier books with great enthusiasm, I loved 'Disturbance in one Place' and 'Pure Poetry', but there is no doubt that 'Hester' is her most political statement so far.

I heard Binnie Kirshenbaum read in Berlin and I got the impression that the German audience well appreciates the fact that there are American writers who are interested in the Old Continent, who listen to what people here have to say and who take the message back home.

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