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    Stella: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Stella: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Stella: A Novel
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Stella: A Novel

    By Siegfried Lenz and Anthea Bell

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In a small town on the Baltic coast, in a community steeped in
    maritime industries and local mores, a teenager falls in love with his
    English professor. Christian looks older than his years, Stella younger
    than hers. The summer they spend together is filled with boat rides
    to Bird Island, secret walks on the beach, and furtive glances. The
    emotions that blossom between Christian and Stella are aflame with
    passion and innocence, and with an idealistic hope of a future. The
    two lovers manage to keep their mutual attraction concealed, but
    as the hot months comes to an end, their meetings become more
    difficult to conceal.
       Stella begins at the end, at Stella Petersen’s memorial service,
    where Christian relives the memories he shared with his first love.
    There is nothing salacious about their relationship, nor is it just a case
    of a teenager’s crush on his teacher. Their affair changes both
    Christian and Stella, allows them to expand their views, and pushes
    them out of social and familial constraints. Theirs is a tender love
    story of a time, and yet speaks to any time; it is actually through
    death that their love is transformed.
       The sparseness of Siegfried Lenz’s narrative is reminiscent of the
    existential stringency of Ernest Hemingway. Only a master stylist of
    his standing could compose such a story that is equally modest and
    powerful, a work that leaves a lasting authentic impression, and that
    strives to comply with W.H. Auden’s famous request, “Tell me the truth about love.”
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9781590513873
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Stella

    4/5

    122 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I did not enjoy A Minute's Silence (ger: Schweigeminute) as much as I had anticipated. The main reason seems to be that the story is more realistic, rather than romantic.The novella describes the love of a high school student, Christian, for his English teacher, Stella. But the story is told retrospectively, in the form of flash-backs, while Christian attends the memorial service for Stella, who has died in an accident. The story is not very romantic; Stella's interest in Christian, which seems insincere, does not meet Christian's youthful adoration. She plays with him.The coldness is further created by the interrupting effect of flash-backs and attendance of the memorial service, and the accident and subsequent hospital scene. Other distracting or detracting parts of the plot are scenes at school and multiple references to George Orwell's Animal farm, a book which is read in Stella's class. It is a bit difficult to see how this relates to the story, but with some stretching it could be suggested that it emphases the inequality between Christian and Stella: some animals are more equal than other animals.I had the feeling there were too many characters in the book, and too many scenes.
    • 3/5
      Enchanting late novella from a writer who doesn't need to prove himself any more. Lenz goes back to the teenage narrators of Deutschstunde and Heimatmuseum for this rather sentimental summertime love story, very effectively. Slightly oddly, it seems to be set in the seventies, neither in the author's youth nor in the present day. Presumably we are supposed to see the author in the old teacher who pops up in the last few pages.
    • 5/5
      I happened upon this tiny novella at a charity used book sale and wow, what a find! I curled up with it one lazy, Sunday afternoon in front of the fire and it completely swept me away. This is an absolutely beautiful, tender, sad and wise love story in the vein of those that simply cannot really exist in the world, but do anyway, for a short period of time. That is not a spoiler, it's on the cover and on the first page. Set on the unique locale of the Baltic coast of Germany, amongst the fisherman, sea trades, boats and villagers of Hirstshafen, eighteen year old high schooler Christian (a "stone fisherman") quickly falls under the spell of his pretty English teacher, Stella. That is a simple premise, but what made this book really shine is how much not only Christian and Stella cared for each other, but the interaction among the villagers, teachers, students and parents. There is one of my favorite scenes in memory, where Christian and Stella are learning of their attraction towards each other at the yearly town dance/party (complete with a seaweed adorned Trident), but Christian's little neighbor girl, Sonja (who has a mighty crush on Christian) wants to dance and be the center of his affection. How kindly and gently they treat Sonja, and how her "little girl" dancing, romantic spirit is captured, was just so real and beautiful. So while being a love story at its core, it is also a reflection of one small sea town, its people, the nature that shapes it and an unusual affair that arises in their midst. Highly recommended.