Summary
Kevin Vennemann: Next to Jedenewa
"We don't breathe. (...) In the evening we count mosquito bites on our legs and braid ourselves, at night we squat in the pantry". What to do when you are not allowed to utter a voice, and you would rather scream out of anger and sadness? Vennemann's evocative prose draws the reader into the fateful events near Jedenew, when local peasants embarked on horrific raids on their own neighbors' properties. Twin sisters are hiding in the tree house, whose intertwined voices echo throughout the text. While the carefree childhood in the rural idyll crumbles before their eyes, the sisters seek an escape from the unbearable in stories of happier days. In their memories, past and present merge, family anecdotes and descriptions of the real disappearances of their friends intertwine. The place near Jedenewo, at a time when the Nazis are taking over power from the Russians, becomes a microcosm of a primal issue rooted in centuries of hatred.
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