Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Amsterdam De Bezige Bij 2019
Library's review
Een allesbehalve doorsnee familiegeschiedenis. Breed uitwaaierend, vooruit en achteruit in de tijd springend, alle aandacht opeisende terzijdes over Sebald, Tsvetajeva, Mandelstam, Woodward, Salomon, ..., van het doorbladeren van familiealbums en citeren uit brieven tot een discours over
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'postmemory' ... Stepanova's 'Voorbij het geheugen' laat zich niet zo eenvoudig vatten, en steekt dan ook moeiteloos boven alle andere familiegeschiedenissen uit - niet zozeer voor de familiegeschiedenis, als wel voor Stepanova's ondervragen van de verhouding tussen verleden en heden en van de artefacten en verhalen die we hanteren bij het terugblikken. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member RajivC
Maria Stepanova is an excellent writer, and this is an interesting topic, or subject, she has chosen is quite intriguing.
She had me hooked in the beginning when she wrote about the death of her aunt, and the 'things' that she found in her home. I assume that this triggered her to go into her
While she has a poetic flair in her writing, in the end, I thought that this book is heavy and boring. There are too many references that make no sense unless you have read everything she referred to.
With this many blanks, and with an overall heavy tone in the book, I found myself being weighed down.
She had me hooked in the beginning when she wrote about the death of her aunt, and the 'things' that she found in her home. I assume that this triggered her to go into her
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family's history. It was, at least, one of the triggers. While she has a poetic flair in her writing, in the end, I thought that this book is heavy and boring. There are too many references that make no sense unless you have read everything she referred to.
With this many blanks, and with an overall heavy tone in the book, I found myself being weighed down.
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LibraryThing member CarltonC
A difficult read, because it is written by someone from a different culture, with frequent Russian and Jewish cultural and historical references scattered abundantly throughout the book that I don’t necessarily fully “catch”. It is also overlong and rambling, approaching the partial
Despite this, or because of this, for me Stepanova’s book succeeds in making me think and in articulating its objective:
This book about my family is not about my family, but something quite different: the way memory works, and what memory wants from me. (Page 51)
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biographies of the author’s ancestors with multiple anecdotes and stories; using descriptions of objects, old photos and visits to places where they lived.Despite this, or because of this, for me Stepanova’s book succeeds in making me think and in articulating its objective:
This book about my family is not about my family, but something quite different: the way memory works, and what memory wants from me. (Page 51)
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LibraryThing member languagehat
Man, I didn't like this book at all -- I had to give up after the first section. It felt like I was reading the ravings of a coked-up maniac who wanted to tell you everything that occurred to them when wandering around looking at random crap. I'm not giving it a star rating because people I respect
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love this book, and it was voted best book of the 2000-2020 period by a panel of Russian experts, so I figure the problem is with me, but I'm leaving this review so that if anyone else finds the book unreadable they'll know they have company. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
National Book Award (Longlist — Translated Literature — 2021)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2022)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Shortlist — Biography — 2022)
Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (Longlist — 2021)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — 2022)
Pushkin House Russian Book Prize (Shortlist — 2022)
Meilleur livre étranger (2022)
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (Longlist — 2021)
Lois Roth Award for a Translation of a Literary Work (Winner — 2021)
Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award (Shortlist — 2018)
The International Booker Prize (Shortlist — 2021)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Fiction — 2021)
Language
Original language
Russian
ISBN
9789403150307