Künstlers in paradise / Cathleen Schine.
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Available copies
- 0 of 2 copies available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
- 0 of 2 copies available at Lake Agassiz Regional Library. (Show preferred library)
Current holds
3 current holds with 2 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crookston Public Library | SCH (Text) | 33500013759931 | New | Checked out | 04/11/2023 |
| Detroit Lakes Public Library | SCH (Text) | 33500013759949 | New | Checked out | 04/08/2023 |
Record details
- ISBN: 9781250805904
- ISBN: 1250805902
- Physical Description: 259 pages ; 24 cm.
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2023.
Content descriptions
| Summary, etc.: | "There was a time when the family Künstler lived in the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Circumstances transformed that fairy tale into a nightmare, and in 1939 the Künstlers found their way out of Vienna and into a new fairy tale: Los Angeles, California, United States of America. An ill-timed visit forces twentysomething New Yorker Julian to shelter in place in Venice Beach with his glamorous and eccentric ninety-three-year-old grandmother, Mamie Künstler, and her inscrutable housekeeper. To pass the time, Mamie regales Julian with stories of her adolescent adventures among the émigré elite, from tennis lessons with Arnold Schoenberg to a romance with Greta Garbo. During his unexpected extended stay in his grandmother's crumbling domain, Julian undergoes his own personal quest as he reckons with the trajectory of the life he thought he wanted and what role he will choose to play in it all"-- Provided by publisher. Julian Künstler comes from New York City to L.A. like many a lost twenty-something: to find a job writing in the entertainment industry. But this is 2020 and his temporary visit turns into an extended stay, trapped by the lockdown in a little house in Venice with his glamorous, eccentric, and ancient grandmother. Ninety-three-years old, Mamie came to Los Angeles from Vienna at eleven with her parents in 1939 among a wave of Jewish musicians, directors, and intellectuals escaping Hitler. As the months roll on, she begins to tell Julian her stories of the eminent emigres she’s known and the magical world they inhabited as their old world was destroyed—people like Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood, and Greta Garbo. Not quite all her stories, however. The pandemic isolates Julian from his world, but from Mamie he learns of the world that came before him and how much the past holds of the future. A tender, sharply wrought comic novel about exile, the power of stories handed down and handed on, and the power of stories held secretly in the heart. |
Reviews
Author Notes
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 March #1
Historical and contemporary fiction collide satisfyingly in Schine's (The Grammarians, 2019) latest novel. The Austrian Jewish Künstler family's established, prosperous life is threatened when creeping Nazi reforms erode their freedom. Fortunately, they escape Vienna in 1939 and settle in Los Angeles, finding themselves on the fringes of its European émigré community. Salomea ("Mamie"), 11, enthusiastically explores her new home, helping her parents and aging grandfather learn English. When Mamie is 93, she invites her 23-year-old grandson, Julian, to stay with her; his New York life has disintegrated since he lost both his girlfriend and his roommate. His parents refuse to subsidize his aimless existence, so he reluctantly accepts Mamie's offer, only to linger when the pandemic strikes. Over the months, Mamie recounts fascinating anecdotes about meeting famous writers and luminaries such as Greta Garbo. Contrasting the wartime excesses in Hollywood with privation in Austria, Mamie and Julian liken COVID-era isolation to the sense of exile so many faced when they fled Europe. Schine's admirers will be enthralled, as will fans of Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews. - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2023 March #1
Historical and contemporary fiction collide satisfyingly in Schine's (The Grammarians, 2019) latest novel. The Austrian Jewish Künstler family's established, prosperous life is threatened when creeping Nazi reforms erode their freedom. Fortunately, they escape Vienna in 1939 and settle in Los Angeles, finding themselves on the fringes of its European émigré community. Salomea ("Mamie"), 11, enthusiastically explores her new home, helping her parents and aging grandfather learn English. When Mamie is 93, she invites her 23-year-old grandson, Julian, to stay with her; his New York life has disintegrated since he lost both his girlfriend and his roommate. His parents refuse to subsidize his aimless existence, so he reluctantly accepts Mamie's offer, only to linger when the pandemic strikes. Over the months, Mamie recounts fascinating anecdotes about meeting famous writers and luminaries such as Greta Garbo. Contrasting the wartime excesses in Hollywood with privation in Austria, Mamie and Julian liken COVID-era isolation to the sense of exile so many faced when they fled Europe. Schine's admirers will be enthralled, as will fans of Nancy Thayer and Elin Hilderbrand. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
Cathleen Schine is the author of The Grammarians, The Three Weissmanns of Westport, and The Love Letter, among other novels. She has contributed to the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times Magazine, and the New York Times Book Review. She lives in Los Angeles.
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| Genre: | Historical fiction. Psychological fiction. Religious fiction. Fiction. |
