The Fall of the House of Blau
Written: May 24 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Engrossing, well-written novel with a unique perspective on moving to America.
Cons: Ends a little too neatly, minor characters are hard to keep track of.
The Bottom Line: The power that a building can have over people and the cultural mix make this intriguing.
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| prettyrain's Full Review: Vision of Emma Blau Books |
The Vision of Emma Blau is somewhat of an epic novel. (Only somewhat because while it includes so much, it's not that long.) It begins with Stefan Blau's vision of a girl and a large hotel overlooking a lake in New Hampshire. The book follows those two images throughout, though first Ursula Hegi takes us back to Germany.
Stefan leaves his family in Germany when he is only 13, and goes to America to find his dream. At first we learn very little about his life in Germany, but as the story goes on we go back and forth some more so that we can put all the pieces together. As we move forward in time we meet Stefan's three wives, his children, his in-laws and the people of the city where he has built "Wasserburg," the apartment building in his vision.
However Stefan's greed and love for the building seem to put a curse on him. He is so driven to have the best restaurant and for the Wasserburg to be legendary that he has little time with his family. And of course the children pay the price. Stefan wants to provide his family with heritage and a symbol of success in America, but he seems to forget about love and a "home." His (third) wife is left alone in a strange country (she's from Germany also) to care for children who all have different mothers and try to make friends with the residents who don't understand her.
Emma Blau is about families, legacies, cultural differences and broken-hearts. It's about life, death, misunderstanding and disappointment. Fate, responsibility, lies and truth.
Although the book includes so much -- the journey to America and back to Germany, births, deaths, marriages, fires, lies, and four generations of Blaus -- the story never feels heavy or confusing. (Except that some characters disappear for chapters and when they come back it's difficult to remember who they are.) Hegi and her characters notice everything and share that with us. Hegi's writing is rich yet so accessible. Formal in some ways but never pretentious, and she lets us fully inside every character.
Hegi writes with such detail that the Wasserburg is now burned into my memory -- I have a perfect vision of the hall where parties were held, the big windows in the Blau's apartment that birds would fly into because they were so clean, the workshop where Stefan's son has his first romantic encounter, and most of all the rooftop where Stefan's wife Helene and her best friend share their souls, complaints, humour and dreams.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
prettyrain
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Location: Toronto, Ontario
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 27 members
About Me:
Book-loving, coffee-drinking writer, zine editor, mom and slacker loving the serendipitous life.
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