This is a translation of a best selling, award winning German novel. The book is about four generations of an East German family and ties national and world events to critical times in the characters' lives. The book goes back and forth in time, starting in September 2001 and going back to different decades beginning in 1952, sometimes repeating incidents from the perspective of different family members. The story was interesting, especially since I was able to relate to many of the references having recently been in Berlin, but there was no character I especially cared about. I also think a knowledge of 20th century German history is necessary to understand the book.