The Art of Being a Stranger : A Family Memoir by Karen Bermann

The Art of Being a Stranger : A Family Memoir by Karen BermannKaren Bermann grew up in the mad orbit of her father, Fritz, the rebellious child of a Viennese Orthodox Jewish family who fled Europe alone as an adolescent in the late 1930s. An irreverent, comic, rageful man with three names, who spoke three languages, lived on three continents, and always kept his papers in order, Fritz lived a life shaped by survival. In this memoir, told in alternating voices in brief, lyrical episodes, Bermann explores not only

Written with tremendous empathy and insight

A masterwork of comedy' New York Times

gleaming forest

at least by the British

only to fall into a decade-long triangle of unrequited love

At the turn of the millennium

In Van Gogh's Ear

James Baldwin's masterly story of desire

White Review and others

she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary and beautiful new world

complete with a pretty purple flower

the wisdom of imagining the great in their bathrooms