A story about an aging father, Jewish of Romanian origin living in München, Otto by Dana von Suffrin is a novel about parents and children, about life as it is and the gentle touch of history. Compared to the other book by Von Suffrin I´ve read, this is her debut.
The narrative is relatively simple, as it is telling a story built around Otto´s personality, as related by Timna, one of Otto´s daughters. We are shared about his family, fragments of his life in Kronstadt/Brașov in Romania and his life in Israel. It feels we are invited in the family house, told about Otto so he can remain in the memory.
In the Jewish tradition, we keep the memory of someone departed by keeping his or her memory alive. Otto is such a story. Maybe there is nothing special about his life, except that he was once alive and this may be more than enough. The fact that Dana von Suffrin features a Jewish story that may not enter the usual catchy representations of Jews in literary contexts - Otto is not looking for religion or want to leave it, he is just living his identity as he was born with, in a nonproblematic anti-dramatic way.
Although I was not necessarily caught up too much into her story this time - her other novel I´ve appreciated way more - Otto has nevertheless its own specific narrative charm. It took me a bit longer than usual to finish the book, but every time I immersed into the pages, I could feel the ambiance and representation of the characters.
The Art Nouveau-inspired cover deserves an extra mention as well.
Dana von Suffrin is definitely a voice in the German speaking literature I would follow in the next years.
Rating: 3 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment