Now In English! Review of "Broken Glass Park"

 

"Sometimes I think I'm the only one in our neighborhood with any worthwhile dreams. I have two...I want to kill Vadim. And I want to write a book about my mother." - Alina Bronsky, Broken Glass Park

Originally written in German by the Russian-German writer Alina Bronsky, and translated by Tim Mohr, Broken Glass Park (German Title: Scherbenpark) reveals itself to be a young adult novel on the axis of maturity. The opening, seemingly over-dramatic, casts readers into a side of Europe they may not be familiar with – the ghettos.
Bronsky pens a coming of age narrative of the young Sasha Naimann, an angry 17-year-old traumatized, but not defeated, by the murder of her mother. After objecting to a sympathetic article in a newspaper about her mother’s killer, Vadim, she complains to the editor, who quickly takes her under his wing. Sasha’s life weaves, somewhat aimlessly, in and out of her time with Volker and his son Felix, and her time in the ghetto, where a teenager’s only ambition is pregnancy, rather than education.

In addition, Mohr does a fantastic job of preserving the attitude of the characters, who drive the novel more so than the plot. From the first paragraph the active narration of Sasha snatches your attention and keeps you reading. Without Sasha's raging attitude, the story might have fallen flat. It’s a human novel, a young novel – Bronsky’s début –sometimes a slow novel. But this cruise through Sasha’s life is a fascinating view not only a story of growing maturity, but also a glimpse of immigrant life in the German projects.

However, there is also the question of authenticity. Some critics point out that although Bronsky experienced the immigrant life, she didn't grow up in the projects. In addition, Sasha repeats the common trope as the one character that sees life outside the projects – not only does she want to get out, but she disparages everyone who is satisfied with it.

Regardless, in my own view, the authenticity of the experience is important to factor in, but not crucial. Sometimes we write to understand what we know and what we don’t. This criticism reveals what we, as readers, still desire from fiction. We want to hear voices from the margins of society, from others in our community, from authentic sources.

There is no doubt, however, that Bronsky shines a light on modern German society. For example, she explains Sasha’s frustration with micro-aggressions perfectly:

"...I'm sick of having to explain everything from scratch. Why my name is Sasha and how long I've lived in Germany and how come I speak German so well - ten times better than all the other Russian Germans put together." -pg 6

Despite all the serious stuff, Bronsky sprinkles her drama with comedy, making it an easy read. I’d rate it a 4/5 as a must read, due to the occasional slow pacing and unbelievable twists with Volker and Felix. Those twists, I’ll leave to you to discover!

Missed a NIE! Review? Check out "Nostalgic Clone" or Balika Badhu