Translated into clear and accessible English by Charlotte Collins ... Rather schematic ... This novel, finally too pleasing and affirming for readers who are rightly worried about political violence and radicalized youth, ends with a dignified old man envisioning a stable, cosmopolitan future for a wayward young girl. Some will read Schlink’s latest as an inspiring fable of intergenerational unity and redemption. Others might find it more like fantasy fiction.
The narrative’s twists and turns will likely keep readers immersed, even if parts of the novel seem divorced from reality. The Granddaughter is less effective as fiction than as a meditation on wrestling with the dark complexities of 20th-century German history and its aftermath.
The alchemy so successful in The Reader — using two individuals to represent two different generations — doesn’t quite work this time. Kaspar and Sigrun, and Birgit and Svenja, too, never emerge as full personalities. The gears of the plot often grind.
Schlink knows how to tell a gripping yarn, and this novel certainly succeeds at the level of narrative. The events portrayed are satisfyingly surprising and he convincingly illuminates the turbulent history of his country, plus the way a tiny minority cling to the ideas of national socialism. He is also admirably willing to leave questions unresolved, characters unhealed ... Regrettably, in The Granddaughter an excess of plot submerges place and character. The dialogue is sometimes contrived, the language less than fresh. Key scenes feel rushed and underdeveloped. The character of Sigrun is intriguing but not always credible.
Compelling ... The story is also well-plotted and unfailingly interesting, building suspense as readers wonder what will happen to Sigrun as she becomes a young woman.
