Reading as part of the 1st international literature festival graal-müritz
A disturbing family story that gets under your skin: the ageing Ida and the tyrannical Elvira find themselves in a country house - held together by the mentally handicapped Ole, whom Elvira both torments and coddles. When a tragic incident brings back the absent mother Manuela, old wounds open up. Lange-Müller's novel exposes the destructive mechanisms of power and powerlessness with biting sarcasm. What begins as a social study of the GDR becomes a universal indictment: how victims become perpetrators and patriarchal structures break generations of women. An uncompromising work about the abysses of human relationships - unsparing but unforgettable.
