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Homecoming

by Bernhard Schlink

3.07 · rating details · 646 ratings · 136 reviews

Growing up with his mother in Germany, Peter Debauer knows little about his father, an apparent victim of the Second World War. But when he stumbles upon a few pages from a long-lost novel, Peter embarks on a quest that leads him across Europe to the United States, chasing fragments of a story within a story and a master of disguises who may or may not exist. Homecoming is...more

Paperback, 272 pages

Published January 6th 2009 by Vintage (first published 2006)

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Jan 14, 2009

Michael rated it

Perhaps more daring in conception but less well realized in execution than The Reader, Schlink's Homecoming uses Homer's Odyssey (in the sense of its being of the class of nostoi) as a metaphor for "homecoming." As is so often the case, this is an example of demanding too much of a metaphor. The basic idea is sound and interesting, but Schlink has relied too much on references to the details of the Odyssey appearing in strange ways throughout the narrative, which has the dual effects o...more

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Feb 04, 2012

Kristine Morris rated it

Bernhard Schlink should have written an essay or article on the theory of law, justice and the philosophy of good and evil and left it at that. Instead he tried carve a story about a boy’s search for an absent father into this lecture. I think there are some interesting concepts explored in the book, and it had the potential to be another “The Reader”- his first novel, but it needed to be revised (more than once) and a heavy hand of editing would have helped too.
I like books that have ...moreBernhard Schlink should have written an essay or article on the theory of law, justice and the philosophy of good and evil and left it at that. Instead he tried carve a story about a boy’s search for an absent father into this lecture. I think there are some interesting concepts explored in the book, and it had the potential to be another “The Reader”- his first novel, but it needed to be revised (more than once) and a heavy hand of editing would have helped too.
I like books that have a mythological theme throughout, but while Schlink uses the Odyssey and the genre of “homecoming” literature, he isn’t able to thread it into the fabric of the story very successfully. In fact it’s overused. Instead you read point of view newspaper articles of the mystery character he is researching and in Part 5 you get to attend actual lectures and seminars and hear him pontificate.
When Schlink actually remembered that he was writing a novel, you get a glimpse of what he’s capable. The opening of the book where he describes his summer visits to his grandparents is beautifully done. He also makes use of déjà-vous both conceptually and practically and it’s well done (except he tries to reuse it at the end again and makes a mash of it). The loveless relationship he has with his mother is also done well and faithfully throughout the entire novel.
The ending (Part 5) is a huge disappointment. The bizarre climatic event was actually annoying (so much so that I admit to skimming through a few pages – and I NEVER do that). Thinking about it, Schlink needed something to break his desire to continue seeking his father. The event is what allows him to turn off the TV midway through watching his father being interviewed on National TV. He irrevocably shuts his father from his life in the same manner his father did to him as a young boy.
A book is supposed to give you something. Sometimes it’s just the pure pleasure of an author’s style of writing, sometimes it’s the pure genius creativity of the story. It could be that you are learning something new….like travelling in the shoes of someone different and gaining their perspective on life, or you could learn about the country and culture in which the book takes place. Sometimes you can relate to the author (they are in similar circumstances as you) or they are describing places and events you’ve been. This novel didn’t give me anything other than the enjoyment of reading Part 1 (which I will always remember as a short story), and perhaps the knowledge that the philosophy of law, good, evil and justice are topics I am not genuinely interested in.
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Nov 07, 2011

Vishy rated it

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I discovered ‘Homecoming’ by Bernhard Schlink a few years back during one of my random browsing sessions at the bookstore. Schlink was more famous for his book ‘The Reader’ which was made into a movie of the same name and which won Kate Winslet her first Oscar. ‘Homecoming’ appealed to me because of its bookish cover and the plot. I thought I will read it for German Literature Month. It was gripping from the first page to the last. I finished reading it today. Here is what I think.

Wh...more

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Apr 13, 2011

Diane A Brown rated it

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Homecoming is usually a memorable and happy experience however this journey is one filled with so many twist and turns I found myself lost on several occasions.

The story starts out simple enough. Young Peter travels across the German / Swiss boarder to visit his grandparents during the summer. The descriptions here are well done and easy to visualize. The stories were interesting.

Peter becomes infatuated with a story his grandparents are editing and is frustrated when he ...more

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Jul 02, 2009

Grady rated it

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'We make our own truths and lies....Truths are often lies and lies truths...'

Bernhard Schlink stunned the reading public with his brilliant novel 1999 THE READER and once again with HOMECOMING he proves he is one of our most important authors today. Written in German and translated by Michael Henry Heim, HOMECOMING addresses, as did THE READER, the prolonged impact of the WW II fall of Germany on the lives of those who survived it. Not only is this a gripping story of a deserted son'...more'We make our own truths and lies....Truths are often lies and lies truths...'

Bernhard Schlink stunned the reading public with his brilliant novel 1999 THE READER and once again with HOMECOMING he proves he is one of our most important authors today. Written in German and translated by Michael Henry Heim, HOMECOMING addresses, as did THE READER, the prolonged impact of the WW II fall of Germany on the lives of those who survived it. Not only is this a gripping story of a deserted son's search for his mysterious father, it is also a treatise reflecting on the horrors of evil and challenges the responsibility of those who perpetrated it and those who 'allowed' or were victims of its perpetration. There is much profound philosophy in these pages, enough to make the reader stop, think, turn to other resources for references, and become transported by the mind of a truly gifted writer.

Peter DeBauer was raised by his distant mother who refused to inform him about his father, a mysterious man who apparently wrote novels edited and published by is own parents (Peter's paternal grandparents with whom he has an intense bond) yet 'disappeared' form his life to become involved in surviving the war by moving to Switzerland and eventually to America where he became established as a political science professor at Columbia University where, as John De Bauer, he became a highly regarded professor and mind manipulator. The story concerns Peter's quest for finding his father, a journey that places him in locations throughout Europe, seeking bits and fragments of information from anyone even slightly connected with the information he has about his father, finding solace and love from various women, and eventually results in his compulsive trip to New York to investigate the infamous John De Bauer, only to be caught up in a fascinating retreat in the frozen tundra of Upstate New York, learning the truth about his shadowy father. 'Sometimes I feel a longing for the Odysseus who learned the tricks and lies of the confidence man..., set out restless in the world, sought adventure and came out on top, won over my mother with his charm, and made up novels with great gusto and theories with playful levity. But I know it is not Johann Debauer or John De Baur I long for; it is the image I have made of my father and hung in my heart.'

The magic of reading Schlink's books is the discovery of a mixture of brilliant story development with indelibly rich characters and the sharing of philosophizing about death, murder, suicide, guilt, and history's influence on who we will become. 'At what degree of cold, hunger, pressure, or fear does the layer of civilization start to peel away?' Yes, other writers are dealing with the scars left on the German mind living in the aftermath of the atrocities of national guilt. But few do it so eloquently and with such brilliant skill as Bernhard Schlink. At novel's end, the reader is consumed with the desire to start the book all over again. Highly recommended. Grady Harp(less)

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Apr 11, 2009

Stephen rated it

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I am a big fan of Bernhard Schlink's "The Reader," even though it has now been Oprahfied. So I began "Homecoming" with high expectations. I was somewhat disappointed. "Homecoming," I believe, tries to do too much. It is a story of a lost father and the guilt and sense of mystery a young German feels as he tries to recuperate someone whose life was lived in the shadow of the Third Reich, but it is also organized around The Odyssey, attempting to play off that clas...more

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May 02, 2011

Heffalumpi rated it

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Shelves: did-not-finish

This book showed much promise from the blurb on the back cover. I had read his other book The Reader before it was made into a film and really enjoyed it so naturally I did not hesitate to give this book a go. A fair go I did give it, 159 pages to be exact, and it went nowhere, well, nowhere I wanted to continue to go!

The premise of the book was good in that a man who had spent most of his childhood with his grandparents during the summer months realises that the have been writing ma...more

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Mar 25, 2011

Alison rated it

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Fabulous! As much as I enjoyed his stories in Flights of Love, especially "The Circumcision", I absolutely loved this book. First, hats off to the translator. I am sure it's easier to translate a German language book into English, rather than, say, Russian to English, but this was done so well that the words just sang. A testament I'm sure to the author, but also to the translator, who has to pick the right English words to do the German justice. Fabulous.

Peter Debauer is a...more

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May 01, 2009

Hannah Messler rated it

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So the criticism that the lady who gave me The Reader had of it was concerning this part where the main character goes skiing toward the end of the book and he skis in a teeshirt. And she was like "That just seemed over-the-top and melodramatic and idiotic to me, like [affects silly German accent:] 'Oh I am so German and desensitized I will just ski in the freezing cold in a teeshirt because I have no feelings after all that has befallen me,'" which, yeah, is pretty dumb, I guess, if ...more

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Jan 14, 2010

Chrissy Owens rated it

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Recommends it for: everyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 26, 2008

Mara rated it

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Shelves: books-about-books, germany, historical-fiction, wwii

The first two-thirds of this book were pretty good. We start with young Peter describing his childhood visits to his grandparents in Switzerland. His grandparents edit a series of light novels, one of which is the story of Carl, a German soldier, and his struggle to return home from the Russian front after WWII. Unfortunately, Peter has only the manuscript of the book, and the ending is missing. What happens when Carl returns home and finds his wife with another man and two small daughters? Does...more

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Mar 02, 2009

Stephanie rated it

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Shelves: found-in-translation

As befitting its title, the opening chapter of Homecoming is luminously nostalgic: the narrator recalls the train journeys he used to take by himself from post-war Germany to visit his grandparents in bucolic Switzerland.

But the comforting image of friendly train conductors and boat rides on a lake is swiftly dispensed with in the next chapter, in which the narrator recounts a harrowing series of truck rides. His single mother hadn't the fare for the train, and so cast her child upon...moreAs befitting its title, the opening chapter of Homecoming is luminously nostalgic: the narrator recalls the train journeys he used to take by himself from post-war Germany to visit his grandparents in bucolic Switzerland.

But the comforting image of friendly train conductors and boat rides on a lake is swiftly dispensed with in the next chapter, in which the narrator recounts a harrowing series of truck rides. His single mother hadn't the fare for the train, and so cast her child upon the kindness of strangers in what seems a rather cavalier fashion.

An unrelenting focus on the darkness of reality is at the centre of epic, thought-provoking tale that follows. Schlink, a law professor who shot to international fame with his novel The Reader, is of the generation born in Germany during and after World War Two -- those who were not responsible for the Nazi atrocities, yet feel a sense of inherited guilt.

In his follow-up novel, translated by Michael Henry Heim, the narrator is Peter Debauer. As a boy, he was told by his German mother that his Swiss father died during the war. But he eventually winds out discovering a different truth when, on an annual visit to his Swiss grandparents, he comes across a section of the proof of a novel about a German soldier's postwar trek home.

He gets up to the part where the soldier makes it to his doorstep, only to be greeted with the sight of his wife standing there with a new child and a new man. The ending of the story is missing.

As an adult, Debauer begins a search both for the missing pages of the manuscript, which he by then has realised has more than passing parallels to Homer's epic poem The Idyssey, about the Greek hero who takes ten years to return home from the Trojan war.

His search leads him to a house where he meets a woman with whom he falls in love. Unfortunately, she is a modern-day incarnation of a soldier's wife -- in this case, the husband is an intrepid war journalist -- and thus Debauer himself takes part in one possible ending to the soldier's tale.

But his life, and that of his unknown father, is increasing intertwined with the story of the mysterious writer. As Debauer continues his investigations, his inroads into the mysterious author's psyche brush against the atrocities committed during the war, and forces him to confront preconceived notions of love, justice and morality.

It is a little disconcerting as the story steadily discards its ties to realism and follows a kind of metaphysical logic, with characters accepting bizarre coincidences and jumping to far-fetched by correct conclusions.

Like Odyseus battling giants and being lured by seductresses, the protagonist becomes less significant as a unique man than representive of an everyman, with actions taking on philosophical rather than personal significance.

Ultimately, what drives the book are not the characters but the ideas behind them about what drives human behaviour in general. Schillar engages the mind, if not the heart, of the individual, but by doing so reaches into the heart of man and the selfishness at its core.(less)

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Bernhard Schlink's The Reader (1995), an Oprah Book Club pick, explored a love affair and wartime guilt. Homecoming ruminates on guilt, justice, history, identity, and evil, and it uses the idea of homecoming to chart Peter's journey toward truth and love. Lies surface and questions about identity emerge as Peter follows clues to the mysterious author's��and his father's��whereabouts. A few critics felt that the translation did not do the novel justice, and others felt that a strange conclusion

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Oct 08, 2009

Nick rated it

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I'm on a tear with Schlink novels. I love his simple clean prose (maybe it's the translation from German?). I appreciate his ambitious narrative conception, believeable characters, and organically intrinsic plotting, as well as a depth appreciation for the unique psychology of modern Germany. So I got sucked into this meditation on the classic mythology of Odysseus, the reinterpretation of themes in the telling of a German legal scholar and editor with a troubled past the reaches deeply into Naz...more

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Aug 16, 2009

Emily rated it

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Shelves: borrowed

I liked this book. Or, I tried to like this book. No, I liked the bits of this book that didn't go over my head. I think I need a book club or something to discuss this book with.

I can't think of another book that I've read that deals with WWII from the German perspective (and how the German population suffered equal horrors at being bombed, lives shattered, generations warped, etc). I am unused to thinking of the Germans role in WWII in any way other than "villain" so it ...more

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Feb 20, 2011

zespri rated it

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It took a while for me to figure out where Bernhard Schlink was going with this book. I loved The Reader, so thought I was in for another treat. Not so. I enjoyed the perspective of WW11 from a German insider, and the details of the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were some good quotes that I stopped and thought about but really the story did not grab me. I really did not enjoy the way the narrator kept finding meaning in pieces of an old novel he found and pieced together. It seemed too co...more

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Oct 22, 2011

Wendy rated it

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Shelves: adult, didn-t-like, read-2011, fiction

The premise was interesting but disappointing in the end and I only finished Homecoming because it was for a book discussion group. The plot device of The Odyssey set in modern day got in the way of the story it was too obvious that Peter was making his life and the life of his father fit into the Odyssey, especially when Peter sets out to sleep with the types of women found The Odyssey. Many elements of the book seemed contrived or put into the book just to be in the book but really had no plot...more

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Jun 15, 2011

Annett rated it

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Bernhard Schlinks Roman über mehr als nur eine Heimkehr zeichnet die Geschichte von Peter Debauer, der über die Geschichte einer Heimkehr, auf die er zufällig stösst, mehr über seine eigene Lebensgeschichte erfährt, indem er sich auf die Suche nach dem verlorenen gegangenen Schluss der Geschichte macht. Schlink versteht es, die Odyssee mit modernen Rechtstheorie zu verknöpfen und mit dem Hauptstrang des Romans zu verweben, ohne dass es langweilig oder anstrengend wird. Peters Beziehungn mit Barb...more

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Jan 19, 2009

Anne rated it

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I really liked this book and read it while visiting Europe last summer. 'Home Coming" is a search for identity, a quest for one's roots, a judgment about what might be true or not. The story is set in Germany, World War II, a time of loss and turmoil. The antagonist Peter Debauer, slowly learns that the stories his mother has told him about his father begin to diverge more and more from reality. Schlink examines the question of what coming home means today intertwined with the eternal quest...more

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Apr 23, 2011

Will rated it

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The whole thing feels rather forced. It begins with an unlikely obsession (fragments of a long-lost novel that the narrator, Peter DeBauer just has to find out more about) becomes a search for his father who was supposed to have been killed in the war. But there are way too many far-fetched clues - people who remember conversations and incidents from over 40 years earlier, for example.
The characters themselves don't come alive. They're more like pieces in a chess game, and often seem t...more

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Feb 05, 2010

Kathy rated it

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Shelves: historical-fiction, hmmm

The story is perhaps well written, but I personally did not like Peter. He whines too much.

So the story pursues a few threads:

The Odyssey - the book itself, books Peter is reading based on the book, and Peter's own life of discovery.

justice - Peter's unfinished dissertation, his father's exploitation of the ideal.

homecomings - a partial book he read as a child - of a war hero returning to his wife, to find her with another man & 2 children... what...more

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Feb 02, 2012

Jack Goodstein rated it

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Shelves: novels

Like "The Reader," "Homecoming" deals with the lingering effects of fascism on Germans who participated in it and those who didn't. Deals with the idea of justifying evil behavior by saying that in exceptional circumstances we are all capable of evil.

Plays with themes of the son's search for the missing father and the idea of homecoming in relation to "The Odyssey," giving the book a mythic overtone--in a less experimental fashion than Joyce.

Th...more

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Sep 18, 2009

Sunflower rated it

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Shelves: fiction-read-2009, europe

A cleverly constructed novel about homecoming on many levels, with Homer's Odyssey as its framework. Written in the first person by Peter, and spanning the time from his childhood to adulthood, he is captivated by a fragment of a story which he had been warned not to read, and which leads him on a search for his father.
This book lost me briefly in the middle somewhere, hence only 3 stars, but nearly redeemed itself at the end of Peter's odyssey. Almost makes me want to read the original The Odyssey ...more

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Jan 23, 2011

Alexandra rated it

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Shelves: belletristik, deutschland

Das Leben des Deutschen Peter Debauer ist in diesem Roman wie eine Odyssee angelegt. Die Hauptfigur surft auf dieser Irrfahrt völlig wirr und sinnlos durch sein Leben und das Jahrhundert, auf der Suche nach dem Ende eines Romans, auf dessen Manuskript er zufällig als Kind gestossen ist und hinter ständig wechslenden Personen her.

So spannend das Epos von Homer ist, so lähmend ist diese Geschichte, denn ganze 260 Seiten weiss der Leser nicht wofür die Hauptfigur dies alles tut, wohin di...more

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Jul 07, 2010

Ti rated it

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Shelves: 2010-library-book-club-reading-list, book-club-pick

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

A child of World War II, Peter Debauer grew up with his mother and scant memories of his father, a victim of war. Now an adult, Peter embarks upon a search for the truth surrounding his mother’s unwavering—but shaky—history and the possibility of finding his missing father after all these years. The search takes him across Europe, to the United States, and back: finding witnesses, falling in and out of love, chasing fragments of a story and a perso

...moreHere’s the blurb from the publisher:

A child of World War II, Peter Debauer grew up with his mother and scant memories of his father, a victim of war. Now an adult, Peter embarks upon a search for the truth surrounding his mother’s unwavering—but shaky—history and the possibility of finding his missing father after all these years. The search takes him across Europe, to the United States, and back: finding witnesses, falling in and out of love, chasing fragments of a story and a person who may or may not exist. Within a maze of reinvented identities, Peter pieces together a portrait of a man who uses words as one might use a change of clothing, as he assumes a new guise in any given situation simply to stay alive.The chase leads Peter to New York City, where he hopes to find the real person behind the disguises.

The Short of It:

I liked it, but I didn’t like it and if this brief statement makes absolutely no sense to you, then read on.

The Rest of It:

Homecoming is one of those novels that is a story, within a story. I usually love these types of books. A book about a book? I’m there. BUT, this one promised to be an adventure and for me, it sort of petered out halfway through. As Peter heads out on his quest to find the truth, the story starts to get a bit muddy and then I started to skim, and then I was completely lost. By the end, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what happened, but after thinking about it for a day or two, I realize that I really have no clue.

To his credit, Schlink’s characters are lovely. I liked them very much and felt as if I really got to know them. If it weren’t for the strong characters I probably would have given up on the book because it just didn’t grab me as much as I expected it to. The ending was very strange too. Almost surreal at one point. It didn’t seem to fit the rest of the story.

Homecoming is my book club’s pick for this month so I’m hoping that the discussion on Thursday will shed some light on what exactly happened there at the end. Have any of you read it? If so, what did you think of it?
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Sep 03, 2008

Rowena rated it

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I've read other reader's reviews here and I agree that the the jacket copy for this novel is really pretty misleading. The majority of the story focuses on Peter Debauer's quiet life as he grows up with his grandparents in Switzerland and then leaves to pursue a career in publishing in Germany. Eventually, he discovers a book in his grandparent's bookshelves that intrigues him based on its Odyssean focus. In his obsession to discover the book's author, Peter unravels a mystery his stubbornly sil...more

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Jun 03, 2008

Suzi rated it

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From here:

So first, war: A force that gives us meaning? An opportunity for liars to make off with spoils? A testing ground for a strong system of law?

And what about the remains of a genocidal war? That's what German author Bernhard Schlink (The Reader) deals in his new book, Homecoming, which enters into the mine-laden territory of grappling with what's left when your entire country witnessed and perhaps created unspeakable atrocities.

Protagonist Peter Debauer...more

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Jun 14, 2008

Stuart rated it

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Recommends it for: Conrad, Krissa, Craige

Recommended to Stuart by: Krissa Cavouras

Shelves: the-stuff-of-greatness

Bernard Schlink's characters feel unique in so many ways, adding to the visceral and at times biting reality of this book. Characters do not act with clear or indeed any motivation at times; there is logic, emotion, confusion and apathy in equal measure. I couldn't come across a new person without having an emotional response to them within a few pages.

The theme of homecoming is inventively explored, with twists and turns, literary parallels and heartbreaking discoveries. The backdro...more

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Apr 30, 2008

Roger W. rated it

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Shelves: german-language-books

I read this book after hearing a number of installments of an audio version on Kultur Radio.

What intrigued me was the connection to classical literature, Homer's Odyssey. There was also a literary detective story which flowed through the book too. It seemed to me that both of these threads seemed to peter out before the book came to a close however, so that my overall impression of the book was one of disappointment.

One of the blurbs on the back says the book takes us...more

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Mar 14, 2008

Leanna rated it

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I read Bernhard Schlink’s latest book, Homecoming, based on a brief blurb in USA Today’s Winter books preview: “Moral questions confront children of WWII parents; set in Germany.”

Based on this description, I was expecting something different than I found in Homecoming. Yes, the main character, Peter Debauer, does have parents who lived through WWII. Yes, the book takes place in Germany. But Schlink is a German himself, and the book was translated from German by Michael Henry Heim.
...moreI read Bernhard Schlink’s latest book, Homecoming, based on a brief blurb in USA Today’s Winter books preview: “Moral questions confront children of WWII parents; set in Germany.”

Based on this description, I was expecting something different than I found in Homecoming. Yes, the main character, Peter Debauer, does have parents who lived through WWII. Yes, the book takes place in Germany. But Schlink is a German himself, and the book was translated from German by Michael Henry Heim.

Although the novel is not what I expected—contemporary Germans confronting their cultural past (a topic addressed in Schlink's The Reader)—it does not disappoint.

Peter narrates his life, starting from his childhood visiting grandparents in Switzerland. The book has a leisurely pace; Peter is in no hurry to take the reader to a specific point or event. Yet, despite its meandering tone, I did not feel impatience with it because I did not know where the book was taking me. I have never been a fan of road trips, but the analogy applies with this book. It is not the destination that matters with Homecoming but the journey.

While visiting his grandparents, Peter obtains a partial galley copy of a “homecoming” story. He becomes obsessed with finding the end of the story and the book's author. The concept of homecoming drives the novel. Peter starts collecting tales of soldiers returning home from war, often to find their wives have moved on. The book constantly references the seminal homecoming story, The Odyssey.

The novel is also quite philosophical. Although I have never been a fan of philosophy and did not love The Odyssey when I read it in high school, I was not put off by these elements. In fact, I was intrigued by the concept of the “Iron Rule” introduced in the book. Whereas the Golden Rule is often stated as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” the Iron Rule, which Peter suggests the Nazis lived by, is essentially be willing to endure yourself anything you would inflict on someone else.

With it’s emphasis on philosophy and the journey (another element of The Odyssey), Homecoming is not the kind of book I typically read. Yet, Schlink is a fine storyteller and, more than that, invites the reader to think beyond the book. (less)

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About Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He became a judge at the Constitutional Court of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1988 and has been a professor of public law and the philosophy of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany since January 2006.

His career as a writer began with several detective novels with a main character named Selb--a play on the German w...more

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“I did not know that children think the hard questions they ask are easy and thus expect easy answers to them, and that they are disappointed when they get cautious, complex answers.” — 5 people liked it

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