Review: This Must Be the Place

This Must Be the Place, by Anna Winger
(Riverhead Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59448-997-6)

The main characters in this "coming of middle age" novel are Walter, once a German TV heartthrob, now the German voice of Tom Cruise, and Hope, an American living not very happily in Berlin with her traveling businessman husband. A third character is the city itself, where past and present live side by side -- modern structures alongside bombed-out lots and once-glamorous buildings.

Walter, at nearly forty, is still trying to reconcile the pieces of his life: an American mother, whom he later learns was Jewish; his German father; his estranged grandparents; his early success on German television; and his failed attempt to make it in Hollywood.

Hope has followed her husband to Berlin after the events of September 11. The novel examines her growing dissatisfaction with her marriage and the loss that has her sleepwalking through her life. Her friendship with Walter grows, as her husband leaves her alone for weeks at a time, while he pursues his business dealings in Poland.

First novelist Winger has a great sense of humor. Hope's husband congratulates himself for building up the economy of Poland by sponsoring late night pay-per-view naked wrestling matches, featuring former Polish prostitutes, on German television. Walter's courtship of Hope is filled with scenes both comic and touching. My favorite quote: "[Walter] felt pleased with himself; he had never dated a woman old enough to remember REO Speedwagon, let alone dislike them."

The book I read was a prepub version. According to the back cover, the novel is due out in August.