A Different Kind of Father-Daughter Memoir

Actress, author and scenarist Andrea Sawatzki is sharing in her short yet pertinent memoir Brunnenstrasse her early childhood story as one of the main caregivers of his ailing father, journalist Günther Sawatzki. Once an important pen in the post-WWII German media landscape, at the time when Andrea and her mother, a nurse, joined him, he was already in decline, both financially and professionally. Much older than her mother, that he met while he was already married, 

Her memoir Brunnenstrasse is an important read for several reasons, one being for exposing the heavy weight of living with someone suffering from Alzheimer´s. The testimony is even more dramatic as shared through a children´s eyes. A child who instead of playing with his peers, was expected to take care of the erratic neads of a demented father. 

The book also shares family dynamics and especially children-parents relationships at the end of the 1970s in Germany, as well as the post-war mentality realm.

First and foremost though, Brunnenstrasse is a story of a girl that was taken out the chance of keep playing with her dolls. The dolls remained part of her life, but only as confidantes and witnesses of her hardships. The memoir is written in the voice of the little girl that once Andrea Sawatzki was and it succeeded very well in reproducing it.

I personally also loved not only the tone, but also the style of the writing, the precision and the choice of words, few but still able to evoke and share strong emotions.

Rating: 4.5 stars