Review of Heimat

[Emmanuella C Arumeze]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Heimat" by Paul Marzell.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Heimat by Paul Marzell is a polyphonic Briefroman (epistolary) novel. It is a novel that details the life of Matthias, an immigrant from Germany trying to make a living in America. It describes the changes, interactions, and meetings that happened to him coming from Germany and how such experiences helped to shape him. It shows the different friendships and acquaintances he made, which helped him in his adoption of America. It also describes the circumstances that gave way to the rise of Hitler and different points of view on what was happening in Germany.

The novel begins by introducing some of the characters in the book. It gives a detailed description of the history of the town in which Matthias and the other three men that are traveling from Germany hail from. The book then delves into the different backgrounds they have and how they have a reason for traveling from Germany, most of it being for economic reasons. The book then describes how Matthias and his friends, Josef, Edo, and Feliks, dealt with the different problems which came up, from being unable to speak English to not getting the jobs they wanted, and how they were able to solve such problems. The book also describes, through letters sent to America from Germany, some of the problems that Germany had, and also, how Germans reacted to Hitler's rise in power and their reactions to different policies he had.

The book is very enlightening. It gives a unique take on the post-world war I to world war II periods. It gives a background to the atmosphere of Germany after world war I, how they were suffering due to the Versailles treaty and why Germans reacted to the way Hitler was dealing with the matter as there was economic growth in the country when he started ruling the country with his party. The book also gives a good depiction of how many immigrants adapted when they moved to America and how they tried to make a living in America. The book is descriptive without it being too long; the author uses words and descriptions in the novel to properly bring you into the story. The author also uses foreshadowing to help set up the tone and atmosphere for the book. This is done correctly and helps set up an idea of where the novel is heading.

I could not see any negative aspects in the book. It was professionally edited; I found minimal errors in it. Also, the diction was good, and it also was descriptive.

I give this book a rating of four out of four. The book is very enlightening as it showed the German perspective of world war II; it also gave a backdrop to what caused the war. It describes the hardship immigrants went through and how they had to work to settle in America.

I recommend the book to history enthusiasts as it gives a unique perspective of world war II. I also recommend it to immigrants, especially those who immigrated to America during this period. I recommend it to descendants of immigrants as it shows some of the hardship that their parents, grandparents, or even great grandparents had to go through to migrate to a new country and give them a stable life.

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Heimat
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[Aisha Yakub]

I think this read would be very useful to history lovers because of the unique perspective it provides. Great review.

[Sarah Sonbol]

I like reading about World War II. This book looks great in depicting the atmosphere during that era. Thanks for the informative review.

[Themmie10]

This book is recommended to history lovers. It's not always easy relocating to a place where you know nothing about. It will be interesting to see how they navigated through these.