Broken Glass Park

Broken Glass Park, Alina Bronsky, Europa Editions, 2010

Set in present-day Germany, this novel is about 17-year-old Sacha Naimann, born in Russia, and living in a Berlin housing project with her two younger siblings. Her mother was also living with them, until she was murdered by Vadim, her stepfather.

Sacha, a brilliant but uninspired student at the local Catholic school, has two desires in life. The first is to write a book about her mother, and the second is to kill Vadim. He is currently serving a long prison sentence, but she is happy to wait. A puff piece in the local newspaper about Vadim's alleged rehabilitation sends an upset Sacha to meet Volker, the editor. He briefly knew Sacha's mother, so he attempts to help out by taking in Sacha for a while. That starts an intense involvement with his teenage son, who has to be rushed to the local hospital with a severe breathing problem. Meantime, Maria, Vadim's cousin from Russia, has come to take care of the children, because social workers are getting interested.

When that relationship fades, Sacha returns to Broken Glass Park, the tough housing project where they all live. Sacha is more interested in killing Vadim than in moving out of the project. She tells her story in a voice that is both candid, and childlike and mature. Bronsky looks inside the immigrant experience, and being on the edges of society, and what it means to live in the first years of a new century.

First published in Germany, this book made a big splash, and quite rightly, too. Bronsky, a Russian living in Germany, about whom little is known, has a wonderful "voice." She does a fine job at portraying a young woman in a strange country. This one is highly recommended.