Interpreters
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Review
A skilfully constructed saga spanning five generations...The guilt Julia feels as an adult recalls Hanna's in 'The Reader' by Bernard Schlink, and strongly conveys the still-resonating effects of the Second World War from a German perspective...Interpreters is an ambitious book with an impressive breadth and an inventive way of intertwining its two plots. --Times Literary Supplement
The scene for this wonderful novel is set in the first paragraph: where privet hedges give way to barriers of leylandii and high wrought-iron gates. A place we are told that "could induce a yearning for death in even the most optimistic." Not only does it establish the spikey, drily humorous tone of the narrator, but it clearly marks the territory for a story about the screens that people erect to conceal unpalatable truths as much as to protect themselves from the transgressions of others. Like all the best literary suburbs, behind the neat hedges all is not as it seems...With her characteristic lucid prose and deft characterisation, Eckstein has produced another finely-wrought and gripping novel that is destined to be a favourite with book groups. --Bookgroup.info
Creates a poignantly vivid sense of the horrors of war. The narrative is compelling and powerful. We too, as readers, become interpreters. --We Love This Book
The secrets she discloses are both disturbing and haunting. They touch on universal themes, and give a voice to the many who perished in the war, and the many silent secrets those who survived carried with them to their deathbeds...the characters are so strong and rounded that they will stay with you for years to come. --The Brighton Magazine
You just won't want to stop reading until you reach the end of the book. This is a beautiful and moving story with credible characters that you will quickly warm to.
--Book After Book
A compelling exploration of memory and loss.
--Observer
The scene for this wonderful novel is set in the first paragraph: where privet hedges give way to barriers of leylandii and high wrought-iron gates. A place we are told that "could induce a yearning for death in even the most optimistic." Not only does it establish the spikey, drily humorous tone of the narrator, but it clearly marks the territory for a story about the screens that people erect to conceal unpalatable truths as much as to protect themselves from the transgressions of others. Like all the best literary suburbs, behind the neat hedges all is not as it seems...With her characteristic lucid prose and deft characterisation, Eckstein has produced another finely-wrought and gripping novel that is destined to be a favourite with book groups. --Bookgroup.info
Creates a poignantly vivid sense of the horrors of war. The narrative is compelling and powerful. We too, as readers, become interpreters. --We Love This Book
The secrets she discloses are both disturbing and haunting. They touch on universal themes, and give a voice to the many who perished in the war, and the many silent secrets those who survived carried with them to their deathbeds...the characters are so strong and rounded that they will stay with you for years to come. --The Brighton Magazine
You just won't want to stop reading until you reach the end of the book. This is a beautiful and moving story with credible characters that you will quickly warm to.
--Book After Book
A compelling exploration of memory and loss.
--Observer
Product Description
When Julia Rosenthal returns to the suburban estate of her childhood, the unspoken tensions that permeated her seemingly conventional family life come flooding back. Trying to make sense of the secrets and half truths, she is forced to question how she has raised her own daughter. Meanwhile, her brother, Max, is happy to leave the past undisturbed. But in a different place and time, another woman struggles to tell the story of her early years in wartime Germany, gradually revealing secrets that threaten to collide past and present...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the outset, Eckstein's literary abilities are established as complex and diverse. The different styles; journalistic prose, interview, and first person narrative work in unison to encompass the themes threaded through the novel-hidden truths, lies, and untold stories. These underpin the key historical events; WWII and the Holocaust. Eckstein's lean prose style drives a wedge between previous novels based on the war and wartime biographies to create a piece of modern fiction which stands on its own as un clichéd and non sentimental. The author's use of witty stories from Julia's past and an underlying friendly tone are key to the humour of the novel and work to make a subject which could be almost to unbearable to write, completely familiar and tolerable.
Much like her first novel, Eckstein introduces us to hugely human characters that are undeniably easy to relate to. Again, as in 'The Cloths of Heaven', the characters' lives cross over each other in often unexpected and subtle ways; Julia's ex crush Nigel in the solicitors' office, Brown Owl still existing in the old church hall, various (now women) who were infatuated with Max...
Critics may argue that Julia's journey through her childhood home and subsequent childhood memories could be clichéd and sentimental, yet Eckstein's subtle humour, brutal honesty and witty tone, along with (as previously stated) her range of literary styles help to avoid the novel becoming mawkish.
Moreover, Interpreters presents a different perspective of the war, through the eyes of a mentally unstable suburban mother and the effects that it can have on her seemingly `fine' children; how it can lead one to a life surrounded by people and love, to one who does her best to never become the mother she had. With Susanna as a `breath of fresh air'... as a constant presence throughout the novel...there is a continual sense of hope and atonement through the narrative. By the time I (reluctantly) put down Interpreters for the final time, I had to wipe the tears from my eyes and massage my aching cheeks.
Much like her first novel, Eckstein introduces us to hugely human characters that are undeniably easy to relate to. Again, as in 'The Cloths of Heaven', the characters' lives cross over each other in often unexpected and subtle ways; Julia's ex crush Nigel in the solicitors' office, Brown Owl still existing in the old church hall, various (now women) who were infatuated with Max...
Critics may argue that Julia's journey through her childhood home and subsequent childhood memories could be clichéd and sentimental, yet Eckstein's subtle humour, brutal honesty and witty tone, along with (as previously stated) her range of literary styles help to avoid the novel becoming mawkish.
Moreover, Interpreters presents a different perspective of the war, through the eyes of a mentally unstable suburban mother and the effects that it can have on her seemingly `fine' children; how it can lead one to a life surrounded by people and love, to one who does her best to never become the mother she had. With Susanna as a `breath of fresh air'... as a constant presence throughout the novel...there is a continual sense of hope and atonement through the narrative. By the time I (reluctantly) put down Interpreters for the final time, I had to wipe the tears from my eyes and massage my aching cheeks.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
`Interpreters' is one of the most memorable books I have read in a long while. Firstly it is a really good, well written story about family life with lots of realistic touches and it is quite funny. It also makes interesting observations about us as individuals and in society.
There is a theme running through it that we don't necessarily have a clue about what makes people tick even when they are as close as our mother or father. There is also the interesting insight from several perspectives into what it must have felt like to be German in the last century.
I found the structure of the book quite complicated because there are two main stories going on at the same time as well as several branches of these but it works and it is for a good reason. I ended up reading it twice because I missed a lot of detail the first time.
There is a theme running through it that we don't necessarily have a clue about what makes people tick even when they are as close as our mother or father. There is also the interesting insight from several perspectives into what it must have felt like to be German in the last century.
I found the structure of the book quite complicated because there are two main stories going on at the same time as well as several branches of these but it works and it is for a good reason. I ended up reading it twice because I missed a lot of detail the first time.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
having grown up in the 40's and 50's I found much of sue ecksteins marvellous novel resonated with my own childhood memories. In particular how little we knew of the wider world, who are parents really were, and the gaping distance between the adult world and childhood comprehension. The Clothes of Heaven was a great read but this second novel really speaks to you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Highly recommended
I liked this book so much that it became my choice of presents for Christmas, and some birthdays subsequently - and I've found that everyone I've given it to has also loved it. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Celia H/G
A new perspective on events we all think we know
I loved this book. I found it both humorous and deeply moving. Though much of it is set in two quite specific times and places - 1970s suburban England and 1940s Germany, its... Read more
Published 27 days ago by Elizabeth A. Dunn
Interpreters
A beautifully written and moving book. Although at times it takes some effort to work out the relationships between the various characters because of shifts in time and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by cjb
Beautifully written, acutely observed
This sensitive and restrained novel tells the story of a family riven with secrets and hidden pain. Julia Rosenthal is a troubled, lonely middle-aged woman, mystified by her own... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sally O'Reilly
Well-written but a little confusing
I enjoyed this book, but I did get a little confused in places. It focuses on two main characters - Julia, a woman struggling with the fact that her daughter chose to live with her... Read more
Published 2 months ago by littlepig littlepig
Gripping
This book was disturbing, heartrending, beautifully written, and exactly what I would expect from Sue Eckstein. Read more
Published 3 months ago by DJ Kirkby
Gripping and insightful literary fiction
Interpreters does what the best of fiction does; it shows us the world from a different perspective, in beautiful prose, and with heart. Read more
Published 4 months ago by LoveReading
Torturous suspense ... Wonderful.
Seamlessly, tightly wound suspense drama by Sue Eckstein, a novel to be read in one sitting if you can find the time. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Karen Baxter
There is much that will resonate with families who've experienced...
There is much that will resonate with families who've experienced difficult relationships in Sue Eckstein's stunning new novel Interpreters. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Pamreader
A thoroughly enjoyable read
Sue Eckstein skilfully weaves two plotlines side-by-side as she explores the complexities of relationships between parents and children against the backdrop of 1970's suburban life... Read more
Published 5 months ago by D. P. Mankin
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