All for Nothing
Remarkable
Complex
Tragic

All for Nothing

A wealthy family tries--and fails--to seal themselves off from the chaos of post-World War II life surrounding them in this stunning novel by one of Germany's most important post-war writers. In East Prussia, January 1945, the German forces are in retreat and the Red Army is approaching. The von Globig family's manor house, the Georgenhof, is falling into disrepair. Auntie runs the estate as best she can since Eberhard von Globig, a special officer in the German army, went to war, leaving behind his beautiful but vague wife, Katharina, and her bookish twelve-year-old son, Peter. As the road fills with Germans fleeing the occupied territories, the Georgenhof begins to receive strange visitors--a Nazi violinist, a dissident painter, a Baltic baron, even a Jewish refugee. Yet in the main, life continues as banal, wondrous, and complicit as ever for the family, until their caution, their hedged bets, and their denial are answered by the wholly expected events they haven't allowed themselves to imagine. All for Nothing, published in 2006, was the last novel by Walter Kempowski, one of postwar Germany's most acclaimed and popular writers.
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Reviews

Photo of Kylie Pace
Kylie Pace@kylie_the_second
5 stars
Nov 28, 2021
Tragic
Complex
Remarkable
Convincing
Contemplative
Thought provoking
Photo of Erin P
Erin P@erin19
3 stars
Dec 4, 2023
Photo of Hannah Swithinbank
Hannah Swithinbank@hannahswiv
4 stars
Nov 27, 2023
Photo of Jeff Roche
Jeff Roche@jeffroche
5 stars
Nov 10, 2023
Photo of Marisa N
Marisa N@marisannrn
3 stars
May 4, 2023