aphrohead_b...
Price: £3.20
In stock
the_book_de...
Price: £3.25
In stock
woodys-uk
Price: £7.17
In stock
11 used & new from £3.06
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
The Land of Green Plums
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The Land of Green Plums (Paperback)

by Herta Muller (Author), Michael Hofmann (Translator)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


8 new from £3.07 3 used from £3.06
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (American ed) 4 used & new from £19.77
Paperback (Reprint) 3 used & new from £13.15

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Passport (Masks)

The Passport (Masks)

by Herta Muller
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £3.98
Nadirs (European Women Writers)

Nadirs (European Women Writers)

by Herta Muller
£9.46
The Appointment

The Appointment

by Herta Muller
Herta Mueller (Contemporary German Writers)

Herta Mueller (Contemporary German Writers)

by Brigid Haines
£12.99
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

by Milan Kundera
4.5 out of 5 stars (41)  £5.39
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (3 Sep 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1862072604
  • ISBN-13: 978-1862072602
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,305 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Like the narrator of her novel The Land of Green Plums, Herta Muller grew up a German minority in Ceausescu's Romania, which she eventually left to settle in Germany. Her own experience lends credibility to the voice of her young narrator, who inhabits a deprived police state in which minorities such as the ethnic Germans suffer persecution beyond the quotidian oppressions of Ceausescu's regime. The title refers to the young woman's observations of the swaggering policemen who wolf down plums from the city trees, even while they're still green; the act serves as a symbol of greed, arbitrary power and stupidity. Although an element of the story is survival, achieved by clinging to the German culture and language, the novel also confronts the older characters' sympathy with the Nazis. Nevertheless, Muller's fictional heroine finds salvation, as she herself did, in modern Germany. --Alex Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

Set in Romania at the height of Ceausescu's reign of terror, this novel tells the story of a group of young students, each of whom has left the impoverished provinces in search of better prospects in the city.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Land of Green Plums
74% buy the item featured on this page:
The Land of Green Plums 3.5 out of 5 stars (6)
Wolf Hall
10% buy
Wolf Hall 4.0 out of 5 stars (109)
£8.49
The Passport (Masks)
9% buy
The Passport (Masks) 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£3.98
Nadirs (European Women Writers)
4% buy
Nadirs (European Women Writers)
£9.46
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. A heart-breaking and thought-provoking novel., 27 April 2000
By A Customer
Herta Muller uses delicate imagaery (factory workers making 'tin sheep and wooden melons') to convey the quiet desperation lurking behind the fake, fixed smiles of ordinary citizens in the police state of communist Romania. The narrator leaves her poor country village to go to the city, where she hopes to find some meaning in her life. Instead she finds that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot stop the fear and despair that comes to infiltrate her every waking moment ('In this county, we had to walk, eat, sleep and love in fear'). Muller wonderfully evokes the harsh reality of the totalitarian state were, in having their freedom and ability to make their own choices taken away from them, human beings are reduced to zombies. A bleak and heart-rending story, but one which nonetheless has to be told.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Youthfull Hope vs Corrupt Cyncism, 5 Jun 2003
This review is from: The Land of Green Plums (Paperback)
Tale of life in Communist Romania, of the rural young in a urban world. A touching tale of youths who wish to reject the system under which they live and enjoy the freedoms of those who live outside the barbed-wire boundaries. Muller shows how the cyncism of dictatorships eroded hope and how fear and terror can disrupt all. A highly reccommended read.Y
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful... Astonishing, 20 May 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: The Land of Green Plums: A Novel (Hardcover)
This novel is one of the most powerful ones I have ever read. The author has a wonderful way of making us feel for the characters, and it is written in such a compassionate and moving way. This is right up there on my list of great books along with Byatt's Possession and another book that reminded me of this one: The God of Small Things.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Nobel Prize Winner?
Our book group read Muller's "The land of green plums" in November 2003. We thought it was pretentious and very badly translated. We gave it an average score of 5. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. A. Mcinnes

3.0 out of 5 stars confusing
Before reading this book I had little knowledge of Ceausescu's dictatorship; this was one of the reasons I in fact read it. Read more
Published on 15 Jul 2004 by hannahk63

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor
Prose that the author uses is very poor and leaves the reader disengaged with the subject she is trying to portray. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2002 by markdenes

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.