Book Review #2 - The Glimmer Palace

So, I said  I was going to start reviewing a few more books and then I suddenly got nervous!  What if my reviews don’t have enough depth?  What if they are too simple?  I almost decided right then and there to not post another review.  But, I’m going to keep going….and push past my insecurities….

The Glimmer Palace is the story of Lilly Nellie Aphrodite’s journey from abandonment to silent film star.  The story itself spans the surrounding events of both World War I and World War II.  Throughout the story, the reader gets a wonderful glimpse of German life.  And not just the cookie cutter German life, but the seedy, dirty parts as well. 

This book was beautifully written, poignant and while it doesn’t come across as charged with emotion since the main character herself is rather detached, the depth of feeling is amazing. 

To me, the best part of this book was the chapter introductions.  Each one reflects a “historical” moment in film that alludes to a portion Lily’s life.  Here’s the first one:

“Berlin, a word that chimes in your chest like a bell. Berlin, a place so bright it pulls down the stars and wears them around its neck.  Berlin, a city built on the scattered sand of circuses and the scuffed floorboards of theater spectaculars.  Roll up, rollup to see the living photographs.  Max Skladanowsky and his brother Eugen, still wearing black around their eyes, out of habit rather than necessity, present their electromechanical effects.  The spectacle of the year, the highlight of 1895, guaranteed.

The houselights dim, and the air is filled with the sour taste of hot celluloid and blue smoke form a hundred burning cigarettes.  A blond girl looms up suddenly on a white sheet.  She laughs, a flickery shiver on the taut cotton; she seems to speak but her voice is mute, until quite unexpectedly, a black patch appears where her heart should be and she disappears into the burning hole in seconds.

The audience gasps, and one child chokes on his chewed-up ticket.  The couple in the front row insist it is a trick with mirrors; a woman in a red heat peeks behind the sheet but finds no one there.  And all the while, trickles of kohl from India fall down Eugen’s ashen face as he comes to realized he’ll never again see the girl he left behind in Lubbenau.”

Hope you enjoy!  I’d love to hear what you think of the book!