In the midst of World War II, Peter Faber and Katherina
Spinell embark on an usual marriage – they haven’t even met. Peter takes this
step to get ‘honeymoon’ leave from the Eastern front, and he travels to Berlin
and meets his wife and her family for the first time. For Katherina, it offers
a war pension should he die. Before the war a schoolteacher in Darmstadt, now
he is fighting in Russia, for his homeland Germany. Despite the unconventional
manner of their union, the pair do find they like and indeed come to love one
another, making it difficult for them both when Peter has to return to Russia.
The narration moves between Peter’s horrendous time
in Russia as his division moves towards Stalingrad, and Katherina’s life in Berlin,
where she enjoys a relatively comfortable existence for a time – this is thanks
to her father’s close acquaintance with the powerful Nazi Dr. Weinart, who he
almost slavishly complies with, even to the point of not defending his own
war-damaged son Johannes in front of him. When the war starts to go against
Germany, though, both of them find themselves still apart, and in dire
circumstances.
The author writes with brutal honesty of the
appalling conditions the soldiers endure, and conveys the different views amongst
them about what they are actually fighting for, so that as a reader we can
conceivably sympathise with Peter despite the outrage we feel at the regime he
was fighting to protect. Audrey Magee also convincingly portrays the turbulent
change in fortunes for Katherina and her family.
Throughout the novel, much of the narrative is written
as dialogue; I quickly got used to this style and thought it worked very well
here; the author lets the characters’ thoughts and decisions speak for
themselves, directly, rendering their emotions and experiences vividly to the
reader.
The
Undertaking is a stark, intelligent
and powerful debut novel that confronts harsh realities and depicts two
ordinary people complicit in terrible actions.
I was impressed by it and I’d love to read more by this author. There is
plenty here for reading groups to debate and get their teeth into – morality,
greed, war, damage, and love.
Published by Atlantic Books - 6th February 2014
Originally reviewed for Newbooks magazine
This sounds impressive. The words powerful but a little offbeat come to mind. The cover actually exudes a harrowing sense of desperation.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an impressive book for a debut novelist Brian. I agree about the cover, it gives an insight into what it was like for Peter in Russia. Thanks very much for your comment.
DeleteThis does sound good, I really like the fact that the author doesn't shy away from describing the appalling conditions that the soldiers endure
ReplyDeleteThe premise of this sounds really interesting. And I do love books related to war. I like the sound of it being written mostly through dialogue - when it's done well, that can have such a massive impact.
ReplyDelete