The Book of Words by Jenny Erpenbeck is a very
short book that bears reading twice. A second reading reveals many subtle clues
missed during the first. The story takes place in an unnamed South American
country where a young girl is raised by loving parents in a well-to-do
household. She is surrounded by servants and given the many advantages of a
privileged life. An observant and thoughtful girl, she often ponders the
meaning of words and events she cannot fully comprehend. Her parents exert
great effort to shelter her but they cannot hide from her the dangers of living
in a totalitarian country. Shops she frequents close and people she knows
disappear. Although she hears reports of and even witnesses acts of outright
violence, for the most part, she accepts her parents’ explanations of these
events as vacations, illnesses and lovers’ quarrels. Eventually, the violence
grows too pervasive to ignore. She and her family must face the truth about
their country and its government. Author Jenny Erpenbeck was born and raised in
East Germany and, while it was not a South American country, it was a true
totalitarian state. Therefore, she knows whereof she writes.
