Kirjailijakuva

Barbara Yelin

Teoksen Irmina tekijä

8+ teosta 147 jäsentä 8 arvostelua

Tekijän teokset

Associated Works

Pommes d'amour: 7 Love Stories (2008) — Avustaja — 5 kappaletta
Spring 09: Reineke F. (2012) — Avustaja — 2 kappaletta
Spring 04: Garten Eden (2007) — Avustaja — 1 kappale

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Yleistieto

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

Representation: Black character
Trigger warnings: Fire, World War Two, military violence and war themes, racism, antisemitism, physical illness, death of a husband
Score: Seven points out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

I saw Irmina as a new library arrival so I immediately wanted to read it. I glanced at the blurb which made me think it would be a heavy yet intriguing read. Afterward, I checked the high ratings and reviews so I headed in with high expectations. I soon read it, and when I finished it, I found it an enjoyable read.

It starts with the titular character, Irmina, moving to England from Germany where she comes across another person named Howard Green, one of the first Black students at the University of Oxford. It only took around 800 years. However, Howard's experience in England felt inauthentic as the author is dissimilar to him. They start a platonic relationship which lasts the opening pages when Irmina had to return to Germany since her funds stopped transferring. Back in Germany, I saw the chilling rise of fascism as Irmina had to start a deep relationship with another character, George. The narrative quickens its pace from here as Irmina has her first child. Here's the thing: how could Irmina be so defiant in England by starting a relationship with another person not of her race but blend in and do nothing rebellious in Germany? That is a question with no answer yet. The author sets part three of the story in Barbados, forty years from part two as Irmina meets Howard again, concluding it on a high note.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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Law_Books600 | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Feb 20, 2024 |
A beautiful graphic novel, Irmina gives a rarely explored perspective into the life of the average German during WWII. Everybody knows that the majority of Germans were complicate in the crimes of the Nazi regime, but it's always somewhat of a mystery why or how. Irmina's story is how - it's your everyday life, and small things keep happening that you don't want to get involved in that gradually turn into bigger things.

Irmina was a wonderfully complex character - strong-willed and stubborn, willing to fight for what she wants at first. And then circumstances intervene and she moves back to Germany, where she dreams of returning to London until a heartbreaking scene that reveals the man she's going back for has left. Her transformation to a good German woman is heartbreaking and sympathetically portrayed. Her late-in-life visit to Barbados and the man she loved is equally (if not more) heartbreaking when we realize that George, who hasn't witnessed her transition, still believes her to be "brave Irmina" and has admired her all these years.

Yelin, perhaps because this is based off her grandmother's diary, never judges Irmina for her choices, yet never condones her actions. She merely chronicles the dangers of passive participation - something to watch out for in the coming days.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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Elna_McIntosh | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 29, 2021 |

Una caja repleta de cartas, diarios íntimos y fotos que pertenecían a su abuela ya fallecida descubrió a Barbara Yelin (Múnich, Alemania, 1977) la figura de una mujer que no conocía tan bien como ella creía. Empujada por las preguntas surgidas, decidió ahondar en la biografía de su antepasada.
Irmina es el relato surgido de esta indagación. El él nos transporta a la década de 1930 para narrar la historia de una joven alemana que se marcha a trabajar a Londres, donde se enamora de uno de los primeros estudiantes negros de Oxford, originario de Barbados. La autora nos presenta a una mujer inconformista, moderna y con carácter suficiente para enfrentarse a los convencionalismos de la época y con una estrecha sintonía con el feminismo emergente. La relación y su prometedora carrera terminan abruptamente al verse obligada a volver a una Alemania sumergida en pleno auge del nazismo. Su regreso a Alemania supone no sólo la ruptura sentimental si no también la rotura de sus ideales: sin soportar la presión del régimen nazi, Irmina acaba casándose con un miembro de las SS, un peaje para su ascenso social, y convirtiéndose en uno de los muchos ciudadanos alemanes que acabaron colaborando, por acción u omisión, con el régimen nazi.
Con trazos firmes y expresivos, mezcla de lápiz y acuarela, con predominio de grises acordes a la época y estado de ánimo que retrata, Yelin nos narra un doloroso conflicto interior que le permite pasar de la historia individual a la colectiva. Y es que, a través de la historia personal de su abuela, la autora retrata de forma magistral y sin que casi nos demos cuenta a toda una generación. Y se pregunta cómo miles de alemanes pudieron mirar para otro lado y aparentar que no sabían nada de los crímenes nazis. Según palabras de la propia autora, su abuela “Nunca hablaba sobre la guerra. Para los de su generación, guardar silencio sobre lo ocurrido durante el nazismo creo que fue una forma de no asumir su responsabilidad”. ¿Es posible hacer vida normal cuando el mundo se derrumba a tu alrededor? Una de las escenas de este álbum lo ilustra a la perfección: Dos mujeres charlan de la cesta de la compra en medio de una multitud. Se trata de una charla trivial, de una cotidianidad absoluta. Hasta que la autora nos abre el plano y nos muestra el contexto: las mujeres charlan mientras observan el incendio de la gran sinagoga de Berlín.
Una lectura imprescindible que da escalofríos cuando uno se da cuenta de la vigencia absoluta del tema que trata, con el auge de la extrema derecha que sobrevuela esta Europa de ciclos políticos eternos. Obra más que recomendable. No es casualidad, pues, que haya ganado diversos premios en Europa y fuera nominada a los premios Eisner e Ignatz.

https://13millonesdenaves.com/irmina/

… (lisätietoja)
 
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acornet | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Mar 22, 2020 |
Irmina is the author's grandmother. She found a group of diaries and letters belonging to her late grandmother and pieced together this history, then created a graphic memoir of her grandmother's life. The author was surprised to find how her grandmother had changed over time from someone who asked many questions to someone who looked the other way. I was unaware of where this book would take me when I picked it up and was disturbed by the decisions that Irmina made in her life. However, I did feel that she did not have any good choices to make until I read the Afterward concerning the Nazi experience for ordinary Germans.

In the opening of the book Irmina has just arrived in London from her native Germany to attend a school for foreign language secretaries. She excels at school but is aloof at the parties that she is invited to. At one party she meets a black man from Barbados, Howard Green, who is attending Oxford University. They become good friends and spend every possible moment together, despite the ugly looks they receive in public. Howard is used to dealing with discrimination but Irmina is not. However, Irmina herself has to deal with it as her fellow students call her a Nazi in class and her English hosts refer to Germans as animals. Irmina is determined to stay in London after finishing school as that is where there are more job opportunities but when her family can no longer send her money she decides that she must return to Germany.

The only job that Irmina can get is through a family friend. She lands a job at the Ministry of War! She believes that she can get transferred to the London office but when that falls through Irmina marries Gregor Meinrich and has a child. Her husband is an architect but several years after their marriage he informs her that he is an SS Officer. Irmina is bored and wants to get a job but Gregor convinces her that they must put on a united front so that he can advance in his job. She agrees as Gregor is on the verge of getting a huge architect contract from Goebbels. The contract never materializes and Gregor is gone from home often on SS duties. As architecture takes a back seat to the war, Gregor takes a military post to the eastern front where he is killed.

When I finished reading the book I felt sad for Irmina. She was never happy with her life. It seemed that she was always at the point of receiving something great in life but then having it disappear before her eyes. While after the war she had a long career in school administration, the author does not show that she was happy with it. Irmina was shown as someone that students were afraid of. Her reunion with Howard at the end of the book was unfulfilling for her. He had moved on with life she had not. It was sad.

The Afterward written by Dr. Alexander Korb explained Irmina's life. She made the same decisions that German women of that era made. She changed in the same way that ordinary Germans changed as the Nazis came to power and then took over the country. I had to reread the book after finishing the Afterward as I had missed many clues into Irmina's psyche. Dr. Korb explained that part of what happened here had to do with the coexistence of terror and the need to live everyday life. With Irmina, she rejected some of the Nazi's ideas but accepted others. The Afterward described these choices at length. It was fascinating!

The author was courageous to write about her grandmother's life. I doubt that I would publicly air the family skeletons. She did a fabulous job in telling a story about this part of world history.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Violette62 | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Oct 30, 2019 |

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Teokset
8
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3
Jäseniä
147
Suosituimmuussija
#140,982
Arvio (tähdet)
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Kirja-arvosteluja
8
ISBN:t
19
Kielet
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