Readers meet a large cast of characters including a vixen in search of eggs for her cubs the local bell ringer, who no longer wants to ring the bell two young men who speak exclusively in rhyme a former soldier from the National People’s Army who now aims to take his own life and the men who drink at local bartender Ulli’s garage, where he serves them cheap beer and lets them “sit and tell tall tales.” The act of storytelling is at the heart of the novel. Narrated collectively by the villagers, the story dips into each of their lives in poignant ways while also contributing short anecdotes from the village’s past, transcripts of which were previously locked away in an archive that has now been broken into.
Stanisic’s novel is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a fictional German village named Furstenfelde on the eve of an annual celebratory feast.
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