“The gardener knows that nothing lasts. The gardener knows better than anyone that everything passes.”
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck is a haunting, fragmented novel that traces the lives intertwined with a single house by a Brandenburg lake over the course of a century. The narrative unfolds through shifting perspectives, each chapter revealing a different inhabitant or witness to the house’s history, from the early 20th century to post-reunification Germany.
The Architect and the Land (Pre-WWI)
The novel opens with the construction of the house by an architect who dreams of permanence. He designs it for his family, embedding his hopes into its walls. Yet, the land itself holds older memories—of peasants, forests, and the lake’s quiet erosion of time.
The Wealthy Family (1920s-1930s)
A Jewish family buys the house, filling it with laughter, music, and the promise of stability. The children grow up unaware of the gathering storm. As the Nazis rise, the family is forced to flee, their possessions looted, their home seized.
The Nazi Officer (1940s)
A high-ranking Nazi officer occupies the house, enjoying its luxury while orchestrating violence elsewhere. The lake, once a symbol of tranquility, becomes a silent witness to his complicity. His downfall mirrors Germany’s collapse at the end of the war.
The Red Army Soldier (1945)
In the chaos of postwar Germany, a Soviet soldier briefly stays in the house. He sees the abandoned grandeur and the scars of war, reflecting on his own displacement and the futility of conquest.
The Writer (1950s-1960s)
A writer, fleeing East Berlin’s political repression, takes refuge in the house. She finds solace in its isolation but struggles with creative paralysis. Her unpublished manuscripts become relics of a stifled era.
The Gardener (1970s-1980s)
A lifelong gardener tends the grounds, watching regimes rise and fall. He embodies the novel’s central theme: the cyclical nature of time and the inevitability of loss. His quiet labor contrasts with the upheavals around him.
The Heir (1990s)
A descendant of the original Jewish family returns, claiming the house after reunification. She confronts its ghosts—both literal and metaphorical—and the weight of inherited trauma. The house, now decaying, resists easy redemption.
The Final Resident (2000s)
A wealthy businessman buys the property, demolishing it to build a modern villa. The land, stripped of memory, awaits new stories. The lake remains, indifferent to human transience.
Key Ideas
- The impermanence of human structures against the enduring land.
- Memory as a fragmented, collective inheritance.
- The cyclical nature of history and displacement.
- Silence as witness to violence and erasure.
- The tension between ownership and belonging.
Who should read this book?
- Readers interested in German history and its layered traumas.
- Fans of nonlinear, lyrical storytelling.
- Those drawn to meditations on memory and place.
- Admirers of writers like W.G. Sebald or Rachel Cusk.