Audiobook11 hours
In Times of Fading Light
Written by Eugen Ruge
Narrated by Simon Vance
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
An enthrallingly expansive family saga set against the backdrop of the collapse of East German communism, from a major new international voice.
Related to In Times of Fading Light
Related audiobooks
White Shadow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSudden Rain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Memento Park: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elixir: In the Valley at the End of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBorder Crossing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Long Room Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Illuminations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magistrate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomelands: A Personal History of Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaiting for Sunrise: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Napoleon of Notting Hill - Book 2 (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIan Fleming: The Complete Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shortest History of India: From the World's Oldest Civilization to Its Largest Democracy—A Retelling for Our Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSins as Scarlet: An Inspector Iwata Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath Doesn't Forget Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The United States of English: The American Language from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlaying the Pools Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Diary of an Invasion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Venice and Other Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King of Schnorrers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Translation of the Bones: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Opium Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Snake Has All The Lines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweet Caress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5CATCH-22 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for In Times of Fading Light
Rating: 3.80821902739726 out of 5 stars
4/5
146 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a very impressive, extremely well written family saga set against the background of the collapse of the communist system in East Germany. There are some superb set-piece scenes, and very clever use of descriptive writing to convey the mood of particular moments in time and layers of society. You can see why one critic (quoted, of course, in the back cover blurb) rather gushingly called it the "DDR-Buddenbrooks" — a comparison that Ruge was obviously angling for by the way he structured the book as a series of widely-spaced vignettes of family events whilst letting the big history happen offstage.But of course it isn't a Buddenbrooks. I was disappointed with the book as a whole and felt that it didn't live up to the technical quality of the writing. The problem seems to be that Ruge doesn't have anything very challenging to tell us. His argument is that the system in the DDR was rotten to the core, based on hypocrisy, toadyism and fear, and doomed to fail. I don't think anyone is going to challenge that: he has hindsight on his side, after all. It might have been interesting if he had made some effort to show us how the idealism and optimism fell away (in the same way that Mann shows us the subsequent generations of the Buddenbrooks family failing to live up to the impossibly high standards set by their parents and grandparents), but Ruge doesn't seem to be able to acknowledge that there ever was anything good in communism. Whether or not that's a valid historical proposition, it doesn't make for a very interesting narrative progression. At the end of the book, we are exactly where we were at the beginning (except that we have now understood that capitalism has some pretty serious flaws too, in case we didn't realise that...).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Die Familiengeschichte beginnt in Mexiko, wo die Kommunisten Charlotte und Wilhelm im Exil sind und von wo aus sie 1952 in die DDR zurückkehren. Charlottes Söhne kommen 1941 in stalinistische Lagerhaft. Kurt überlebt und heiratet eine russische Frau, mit der er 1956 in die DDR zieht. Ihr gemeinsamer Sohn Alexander verlässt später die DDR und geht in den Westen. Als schwer krebskranker Mann lässt er 2001 seinen dementen Vater allein und reist mit dessen Ersparnissen nach Mexiko, wo er versucht, irgendwelche Anknüpfungspunkte für seine Unrast zu finden. Das ist gleich die erste Szene im Buch.Sein Sohn Markus wiederum hat gegen Ende des Buches nur noch losen Bezug zur Familie und deren Geschichte.Das Buch ist geschickt montiert. Gelungen werden Erlebnisse aus immer wieder anderen Perspektiven geschildert (etwa Wilhelms neunzigster Geburtstag, eine Schlüsselszene, die durch die sechsmalige Wiederholung und unterschiedliche Blickwinkel interessant und durchaus auch witzig ist). Das Buch zeigt verschiedene Positionen zum Kommunismus, die in ihrer Begeisterung und ihrer Teilhabe abnehmen - wie der Titel sagt. Die DDR und ihr System werden anhand dieser Familie dargestellt.Dennoch gefiel mir das Buch nicht uneingeschränkt. Die Personen sind alle durch die Bank unsympathisch, die Familien dysfunktional, die Männer frauenfeindlich. Klar soll da alles etwas symbolisieren und repräsentieren. Doch ich dachte mir beim Lesen mehrfach, dass ich recht ungern über diese Personen lese.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read Anna Funder's book, "Stasiland", a year or two back and rather expected this to be of the same informative, but rather depressing, order (not to imply anything about Anna Funder's excellence as a writer). But here we have a book in which East Germany is merely the context for a journey of discovery through four generations of a family. Brilliantly plotted and so well translated, we move forward and backward in time to view family events through different character's minds. The Table of Contents is useful for keeping track. Of course, East Germany in the latter part of the 20th centre is no "mere" context. It shaped all who lived within it, as do all cultures. Therein lies the opportunity to reflect on one's own present cultural context. How am I shaped by it?