It's History

Parts I loved. Parts I hated. Parts bored me. I guess that sums up my view of history, and also my view of Ida Hattemer-Higgins book The History of History, a Novel of Berlin. The book is confusing and has a lot of gobbledegook in it. 

A young woman, Margaret Taub, goes to Berlin to study history. She gives tours of Berlin. She goes crazy from the weight of her history and how it may or may not fit into the Nazi past. The Holocaust weighs heavily on her. Should she murder a surviving Nazi, Hitler's body guard, as vengeance for the six million slain, or should she atone for her own sins and those of her family?

I was interested in her exploration of the Nazi past. My grandfather's family emigrated to the United States long before Hitler appeared, but there must have been family left behind. Were they Nazis? They lived in the northwest part of the country, were of aristocratic background and were no longer wanted in Germany after the Unification of States. That's all I know. I want to do two things: visit Germany in the Spring when my son studies abroad in Copenhagen, and speak with cousins who may know more about the family's history than I do. 


What I didn't like about the book was the florid nightmares/experiences that Margaret had every few minutes it seemed. The buildings became flesh, she took rides on the wings of a hawk who was really Magda Goebbels and she played cards with a woman who'd gassed herself, husband and children before the Nazis closed in. It was a bit much. I found these sections boring after a while.


I almost quit reading this book in the middle. What kept me going is that I dragged out Infinite Jest again and read maybe 20 pages. I didn't lug this up to the country, taking the Berlin book instead. Now, the only book I have to read is Jest. Maybe Dave Eggers' new book will arrive later today.