About this title: A child of World War II, Peter Debauer grew up with his mother and scant memories of his father, a victim of the war. Now an adult, Peter embarks on a search for the truth surrounding his mother's unwavering--but shaky--history, and the possibility of finding his missing father.
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Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this item supports Pierce County libraries. Thriftbooks and PCL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780375420917ISBN:0375420916
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780375420917ISBN:0375420916
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780375420917ISBN:0375420916
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good. 0375420916 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0375420916 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0375420916 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 0375420916 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Like New. 2008-Hardcover-May contain minor shelf-wear. Otherwise, volume un-read and in "As-New" condition. -Used-Like New-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780375420917ISBN:0375420916
Description: Good in very good dust jacket. English translation. Good+ Ex-library with stamps and stickers but book in very good condition. Translated from the German by Michael Henry Heim read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375725579ISBN:0375725571
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 260 p. Vintage International (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Date Published: 2008-01-08
ISBN-13:9780739327777ISBN:0739327771
Description: Very Good. ESPECIALLY CLEAN X/LIBRARY LARGE PRINT SOFTCOVER WITH PROTECTIVE SLEEVE. POSSIBLY UNCIRCULATED. ALL CLEAN CRISP TEXT PAGES. NICE TIGHT BINDING. DAILY SHIPPING. read more
"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 Nazi and Communist era links to his own past. Regrettably,the last third of the book got very talk as he tried to shoehorn his moral and legal ideas into the fragile container of a story already stretched too thin. The finale was melodramatic and unappealing. Pity, because THE READER was a perfect novel, and the mysteries starring PI Gerhard Self that Schlink writes are very entertaining and well plotted."
"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 was weird to suddenly have sympathetic emotions about it. Very confusing for me!
I'm not sure that I understood the analysis of the philsophy of justice entirely and since it was subtly added into the storyline and not jammed in there (cough *coehlo* cough), I enjoyed reading and pondering it. Ultimately though, I don't know that I quite got what the author was trying to say about it, or how it linked up with the story..."
"'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"
"Schlink, Bernhard. HOMECOMING. (2006; US 2008). **. One of Elmore Leonard's rules of good writing is to leave out those parts that readers tend to skip over. If that were the case with this novel, we would end up with over 250 pages of blank paper suitably bound for using as a journal or sketch pad. This is a journey to identity story that many writers seem to need to write. You don't have to read them, though. Some of them grab you early on and won't let you go. This one didn't."
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