The history of history : a novel of Berlin

From Publishers Weekly A promising premise flatlines in Hattermer-Higgins's overwrought debut. Margaret Taub, a young American woman awakens in a forest outside Berlin in September of 2002 with a several-month-long blank spot in her memory. Two years later, after a letter, addressed to a "Margaret T?ubner," arrives at her apartment, confirming an upcoming appointment with a doctor Margaret has never heard of, she meets the doctor, a gynecologist, who treats Margaret with uncomfortable familiarity and insists on serving as her "memory surgeon." The next morning, Berlin has "transformed into flesh," and, as Margaret negotiates the menacingly alive city, she is plagued by a mysterious feeling of guilt, all the while becoming increasingly obsessed with Magda Goebbels, the wife of Hitler's propaganda minister, and the possibly parallel story of Regina Strauss, a Jewish woman who committed suicide along with her husband and children. It doesn't take long for this novel to come undone, its magical realism and overly precious tone mixing uneasily with its ponderous claims about ethics and memory. Also problematic are the final revelations about Margaret's past, which are intended to be shocking and enlightening, but are instead burdened with insistence on meaning. (Jan.) (c) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From Starred Review The Holocaust is a dark star, forever pulling new writers into its orbit. First-time novelist Hattemer-Higgins dramatizes with phantasmagoric magnitude the crisis of conscience following the genocide, drawing on her experience working in Berlin as a walking-tour guide, a role she assigns to her protagonist. An American with a German father, Margaret Taub has survived a mysterious trauma that has erased her memory of recent months and left her afflicted with nightmarish visions. As she ushers tourists to Nazi sites, the city turns to flesh before her eyes, and Nazi Madga Goebbels, who murdered her children as military defeat loomed, stalks her in the form of a bird of prey. Margaret is also visited by the ghost of a Jewish woman who committed suicide after killing her children to save them from Nazi torture. Determined to regain her past, Margaret contends with a blind, knife-throwing “memory surgeon” and a spying neighbor. She knows she’s guilty, but of what? With unbridled imagination and exquisite command, Hattemer-Higgins explodes the concept of remembrance and confronts the “spiritual aftershock” of the Holocaust in a gloriously hellish and fiercely surreal dreamscape with echoes of fairy tales, Heinrich von Kleist, and Hermann Hesse, to create a bewitching and unnerving novel stunning in its artistry, audacity, and insight. --Donna Seaman

A ferociously smart and electrifyingly original debut novel.

2002. A young woman named Margaret stumbles one morning from the forest outside Berlin—hands dirty, clothes torn. She can remember nothing of the night.

2004. An enigmatic letter arrives from an unknown doctor, a self-styled “memory surgeon” claiming to be concerned for her fate. Shortly after, the city of Berlin transforms. Nazi ghosts manifest as preening falcons; buildings turn to flesh.

This is the story of Margaret’s descent into madness and her race to recover her lost history—the night in the forest and the chasm that opened in her life as a result. Awash in guilt, Margaret finds her amnesia resonating—more and more clamorously—with two suppressed tragedies of Berlin’s darkest hour.

Harrowing and provocative, beguiling in its lyricism and sensuality, The History of History tells a tale of obsessive love, family ruptures, and a nation’s grief. And it is an elegy to “the history of history”—the role of the German past in the psychic life of the present age. With this first novel, thirty-year-old Ida Hattemer-Higgins establishes herself as a bold and prodigiously gifted talent.

Publishers Weekly

A promising premise flatlines in Hattermer-Higgins's overwrought debut. Margaret Taub, a young American woman awakens in a forest outside Berlin in September of 2002 with a several-month-long blank spot in her memory. Two years later, after a letter, addressed to a Margaret Täubner, arrives at her apartment, confirming an upcoming appointment with a doctor Margaret has never heard of, she meets the doctor, a gynecologist, who treats Margaret with uncomfortable familiarity and insists on serving as her memory surgeon. The next morning, Berlin has transformed into flesh, and, as Margaret negotiates the menacingly alive city, she is plagued by a mysterious feeling of guilt, all the while becoming increasingly obsessed with Magda Goebbels, the wife of Hitler's propaganda minister, and the possibly parallel story of Regina Strauss, a Jewish woman who committed suicide along with her husband and children. It doesn't take long for this novel to come undone, its magical realism and overly precious tone mixing uneasily with its ponderous claims about ethics and memory. Also problematic are the final revelations about Margaret's past, which are intended to be shocking and enlightening, but are instead burdened with insistence on meaning. (Jan.)

A ferociously intelligent debut novel about a young amnesiac’s descent into madness in contemporary Berlin, and a country wrestling with its dark past.A young woman named Margaret stumbles one morning from a forest outside Berlin, hands dirty, clothes torn. She can remember nothing of the night in the woods, nor—she soon realizes—anything of the previous months. She returns home to her former life.Two years later, she receives a letter from a mysterious doctor, who summons her to an appointment, claiming to be concerned for her fate. Margaret keeps the appointment, but when she leaves the doctor’s office, the entire city is transformed. Nazi ghosts manifest as preening falcons; buildings turn to flesh; reality itself wheels.This is the story of Margaret’s race to recover her lost history—the night in the forest, and the chasm that opened in her life as a result. Awash in guilt, careening toward a shattering revelation, Margaret finds her personal amnesia resonating more and more clamorously with a nation’s criminal past, as she struggles toward an awakening that will lead her through madness to the truth, and to the unanswerable agony of her own actions.Ida Hattemer-Higgins has written a novel about amnesia—individual, cultural, historical—about memory and oblivion, fantasy and reason, myth and redemption in our time. An unforgettable story from a bold and prodigiously gifted young talent. A ferociously intelligent debut novel about a young amnesiacs descent into madness in contemporary Berlin, and a country wrestling with its dark past. A young woman named Margaret stumbles one morning from a forest outside Berlin, hands dirty, clothes torn. She can remember nothing of the night in the woods, norshe soon realizesanything of the previous months. She returns home to her former life. Two years later, she receives a letter from a mysterious doctor, who summons her to an appointment, claiming to be concerned for her fate. Margaret keeps the appointment, but when she leaves the doctors office, the entire city is transformed. Nazi ghosts manifest as preening falcons; buildings turn to flesh; reality itself wheels. This is the story of Margarets race to recover her lost historythe night in the forest, and the chasm that opened in her life as a result. Awash in guilt, careening toward a shattering revelation, Margaret finds her personal amnesia resonating more and more clamorously with a nations criminal past, as she struggles toward an awakening that will lead her through madness to the truth, and to the unanswerable agony of her own actions. Ida Hattemer-Higgins has written a novel about amnesiaindividual, cultural, historicalabout memory and oblivion, fantasy and reason, myth and redemption in our time. An unforgettable story from a bold and prodigiously gifted young talent. PART 1: FLESH The Persistence of Documents The Glass Globe Time, Flowers The Speculum The Slur of Vision Magda's Face Privacy and Devotion Don Quixote of the SS The Whale Ducks The Concubine's Mind Sachsenhausen The History of History Face Tattoos Sweet Vitaly Tales of the Overripe PART 2: ROPE Redemption Beckoning An Expectation of Mirrors They Played Hearts Roses for Rahel The Violence of Nostalgia Escape from Berlin A Taxonomy of Sins Beautiful Albert The Children of Grimm A Lesson for Hussies Everywhere Erich The Lake of Fire Dreams During Illness PART 3: TUNNEL Iron Waves The Return of the Tundra The Isolation of the Fanatic The Doctors of Charite The U7 Reconciliation with Vitaly The Glow Margaret Erich Again Arrival of the Valkyries 2002. A young American woman stumbles one morning from the forest outside Berlin - hands dirty, clothes torn. She can remember nothing of the night. She returns to the life she once knew, but soon an enigmatic letter arrives from an unknown doctor claiming to be 'concerned for her fate'. Shortly after, the city of Berlin transforms. Nazi ghosts manifest as preening falcons; buildings turn to flesh. Two years after a bedraggled woman stumbles out of the Berlin forest with no memory of what has happened to her, she receives a mysterious letter from a self-styled memory doctor at the same time the city transforms into a horror zone of ghosts and bizarre mutations.