My father's book - Urs Widmer

In this companion to Urs Widmers novel My Mothers Lover,
the narrator is again the son who pieces together the fragments of his
parents stories. Since the age of twelve, Karl, the father, has
observed the family tradition of recording his life in a single
notebook, but when his book is lost soon after his death, his son
resolves to rewrite it. Here, we get to know Karls friends-a collection of anti-fascist
painters and architects known as Group 33. We learn of the early years
of Karls marriage and follow his military service as the Swiss fear a
German invasion during World War II, his political activity for the
Communist Party, and his brief career as a teacher. We are told of
Karls literary translations of his favorite French books, and, most
important, the eerie and ever-present coffins outside the houses in the
home village
of Karls father, one reserved for each individual from
the day he or she is born. Widmer brilliantly combines family history and historical events to
tell the story of a man more at home in the world of the imagination
than in the real world, a father who grows on the reader, just as he
grows on his son.
\u201cOne of the best representatives of Swiss literature.\u201d-Le Monde