Jenseits der Stille: A German Reader

by Caroline Link (Editor), Birte Christ (Editor), Marion Gehlker (Editor)

Caroline Link's Jenseits der Stille is the story of Lara, a girl with two deaf parents who is given a clarinet by her favorite aunt. As she hones her natural talent and becomes a skillful musician, Lara feels more distant from her parents.

By adapting this novel for use in the second and third year German classroom, the editors introduce students to contemporary texts of moderate difficulty and allow them to discuss these texts within their historical and cultural contexts.

Genres: German Literature

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2011

About the author

Caroline Link is a German film director and screenwriter.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself is a nice read. I didn't watch the movie beforehand and it felt kind of slow at some points, though was still interesting and brought me to tears at the end. The exercises in the back are very nice to have. I also really like how context about certain buildings and landmarks throughout Germany is occasionally given on the side, with an associated picture. I do feel that the choices on which words to translate were sometimes poorly made, though. Certain words which I had never heard before weren't translated, yet some of the easiest or most self-explanatory words were. Still a good book with a lot of learning potential, and I feel that I grew from it. I wish more books with this kind of footnote translation style existed. Overall, it's not perfect, but I still recommend it, especially for people who are teaching themselves.

[Matt Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this movie a few times in college in my German studies, and loved it. When I saw it in novel form at Half Price Books, I jumped at the chance to read it. I read most of it on my summer vacation this year.

The story of a young girl and her turbulent relationship with her deaf father is told movingly. Since this is a novelization of the film, it follows the plot very closely, so there were no surprises, but this edition was also written as a reader for students of German. That was occasional helpful, especially when the aids translated idioms for me.