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Grandfather and the Decision-Makers

by Christoph Hein

This week we will be reading the short story 'Grandfather and the Decision-Makers' by Christoph Hein. The story is set in Germany sometime after the war and before the reunification, the story builds slowly allowing us to really step into the world of the farm and simple living introduced to us through the eyes of a young boy who has been sent with his sister to stay with their Grandfather and Grandmother on the farm estate that the grandfather manages. The overarching plot device is 'the decision-makers' or the people that make the decisions about what is to happen to the farm and what the grandfather can and in this case cannot do. However, this theme of lacking autonomy and decisions being often out of our own hands can be seen to carry through the other more subtle elements of the story as well. 

Listen to the story via the audio book above.

The full book can be purchased here: Short Stories in German : Blackwell's

About the Author

Christoph Hein was born on the 8th of April 1944 and is a German author and translator. He grew up in the village Bad Düben near Leipzig. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule in the GDR. He received secondary education at a gymnasium in the western part of Berlin. Hein first became known for his 1982 novella Der fremde Freund (The Distant Lover).

According to Hein, the acclaimed film drama The Lives of Others is loosely based on his life story. In a 2019 article, he claims that after attending the premiere screening, he asked author and director von Donnersmarck to have his name removed from the credits, because he felt that the movie was a "scary tale taking place in a fantasy land, comparable to Tolkien's Middle-earth," that "does not depict the 1980s in the GDR".

Join us on Thursday at 3PM to chat about the book!

What is the book club?

Join us every week for a book club, each week we will read a new short story of part of a larger book, the books will be made available as an audio book and we will meet as a group via zoom to chat about the story. All are welcome, hope to see you there. 

How to join the club to chat

The zoom link to join will apear above on this page at 3PM on Thursday. To join you will need a phone/tablet or laptop with a built in camera and microphone (most modern devices come with this) you may need to download the zoom app onto your phone if you are using a phone to join.

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