Siblings
- Author Brigitte Reimann
- Narrator Amy Noble
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Run Time 4 hours and 45 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Classic fiction, Fiction in translation, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Politics.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
- £3.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
1960. The border between East and West Germany has closed.
For Elisabeth - a young painter - the GDR is her generation's chance to build a glorious, egalitarian socialist future. For her brother Uli, it is a place of stricture and oppression. Separating them is the ever-wider chasm of the party line; over them loom the twin spectres of opportunity and fear, and the shadow of their defector brother Konrad. In prose as bold as a scarlet paint stroke, Brigitte Reimann battles with the clash of idealism and suppression, familial loyalty and desire. The result is this ground-breaking classic of post-war East German literature.
©2022 Brigitte Reimann (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
-
Atmopsheric… complex, prickly, funny… Reimann’s novel has the tense mood of a play – a family drama by Henrik Ibsen or Arthur Miller – with plenty of fiery dialogue between the characters about politics, industry and art… [Reimann] is a flash of colour in a grey landscape
The Sunday Times -
A groundbreaking classic of GDR literature… a phenomenon
Guardian -
Siblings is sexy, rigorous and worrying – I absolutely loved this book
Our Wives Under the Sea -
Intoxicating… dense, jagged… Lucy Jones’s translation excellently captures the dry wit, expressionistic boldness and seductively odd rhythms that make the original German so charismatic
Guardian -
It is hard to believe that this brilliant novel has taken so many years to find its way into English translation. Spare, chilling, with wild flashes of vivid colour and the tempo of a thriller, Siblings jolts us into the beating heart of a family and post-war East Germany, conjuring the political dreams and divisions that make and ultimately break both
Lisa Appignanesi -
Reimann’s depiction of the complexities of nationhood are remarkably modern, and her portrayal of the sibling bond unnerving and tender… A striking portrait of what it feels like to be young, idealistic and crushed by the systems around you
New Statesman
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