What You Can See From Here

What a delightful book this is. It defies description in some ways, as it is so unusual. The story seems to be set outside of time and is told from the point of view of a young woman and the people, including her family, who are part of her life in a small village. All of them are quirky characters in themselves, but as a whole gives the book an almost enchanted feel.
It deals with issues such as grief and love but in a charming way and it is very humorous in parts. Some parts of the story are quite poetic, it is beautifully written. A heart warming magical story I would highly recommend.

Inexplicably joyful. The best of books in translation - something you don’t expect, and something that is very hard to compare to anything else!

Perhaps similar vibes to movies like Little Miss Sunshine, but a completely different setting and story - just a mix of relatable, delightful and really mad.

Hard to explain, but certainly five stars, must be read to fully appreciate it - can’t recommend enough!

A beautiful and poignant read about a close village community who involve themselves in each other's lives for the betterment of all. The characters are all very believable and you become very attached to them - mostly joy and a little sorrow (tears were shed). Highly recommended.

Residents in a small village in Western Germany are worried someone will die after Selma dreamt she saw an okapi. So many wonderful characters that you become so involved in.
Their Hope, dreams and daily lives are just wonderful. There is death but also love and life.
Highly recommend.

Somewhere, anywhere, in a small village surrounded by meadow and on the edge of a forest live Luisa and Martin, ten years old and best friends since forever.
They live alongside Selma and the Optician and Luisa’s dad, but who these people are and what they mean to each other can wait, because Selma has had a dream about an okapi, so someone is going to die.
What You Can See From Here by Mariana Levy, newly translated by Tess Lewis, is a charming rambling tale of love, loss and destiny. Beautifully written and translated, it is peppered with little motifs, sometimes the same but often the opposite of the originals and concealed truths which can kill or cure. From the red x’s marking the weak spots on the floor of the apartment, to Selma who invented the world and carried Luisa until she woke up, to the Optician’s suitcase full of started letters and the lovely Alaska and the best love story imaginable, I loved every word of this book and wanted to stay in the company of these characters and be non-interventionist forever.

I LOVE this book. The story follows Luise from childhood to adulthood, seeing how her life is affected by everything that happens to her – from her loving but distant parents to her adoring, ever-present grandmother, from the idiosyncrasies of her village neighbours to the sudden appearance of her one true love. A beautiful, flowing diary of a life where everything and nothing happens. Completely unputdownable, it will grip you gently but firmly, keeping you reading deep into the night.

This is such an unusual and charming novel, full of quirky characters. It is set in a small village in Germany which has a close community. Luisa's father has gone off on his travels but everyone else seems to be content to remain and to continue with their lives as they always have been. Death and change do, of course, visit the people and this is the story of how they all cope in their various ways. A delightfully original read.

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? It's heartwarming, sad, funny, weird (Brussel sprouts stew) and peopled with incredibly eccentric characters. It's impossible to not be charmed by this book that will please all of the people all of the time. Just fabulous storytelling.

This is a beautiful book. Warm, funny and full of lovable characters.

Our narrator, the 10 year old Luise invites us into a German village in the Westerwald. Through her eyes we are introduced to the people who matter to her: There is Selma her grandmother, larger than life and central to Luise and everybody else in the village. There is the superstitious-to-the-extreme Elsbeth - Selma’s sister in law, there is the optician - madly but nevertheless secretly in love with Selma and grumpy Marlies, who wants to be left alone but is taken care of lovingly by the villagers. And there is Martin, Luise’s best mate, with whom she spends every spare hour and who aspires to become a world champion heavy weight lifter. There are, of course, others who bring their own story to the party but I can only encourage you to find out for yourself – you will want to meet them all.

It is reputed that when Selma dreams of an Okapi, a death will occur within 24 hours – so when this creature appears in one of her dreams, the villagers hold their breath, anxiously waiting for the tragedy to unfold. Just when they recon to have got away with it, disaster strikes and impacts on everyone’s life, particularly on Luise’s.

At this point we leave the 10 year old Luise and meet her again when she is in her early twenties. In the next two parts of the book, we witness her overcoming the tragedy foretold by her gran’s Okapi dream, more than a decade ago. Naturally, the people in her village play a big part in it. Luise beautifully narrates the unfolding – by no means extraordinary – events in the village. When she meets the love of her life, she is challenged to step out of her limited orbit and is ready to explore the big wide world in the knowledge that there will always be a warm and loving place for her to return to.

This book is heart-warming, witty and quirky; its brilliance lies in its narration exposing the randomness and madness of life which we are encouraged to embrace. Splendid.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Luisa’s grandmother Selma dreams of an okapi, so the whole community expects someone to die in the next twenty four hours: it is what has happened before. However, this time nobody dies, everybody breathes a sigh of relief and life continues as normal, until tragedy strikes anyway.
Centred on Selma’s crumbling house at the edge of the village, next to the forest, this is a beautifully observed character driven novel that spans twenty years or so. The cast of characters is relatively small, reflecting the close knit village community and their inter-relatedness, highlighting their dependence on Selma. Luisa is virtually raised by her grandmother: although she and her parents live in the apartment upstairs, her doctor father and florist mother are almost absent from the important parts of her life. Luisa’s friend Martin is often fed by Selma and protected from his strict, hard-drinking single parent father; Luisa is dispatched to check on Marlies, living alone in the village; Selma’s friend the optician harbours a deep love for her that he never admits; her sister in law Elsbeth, pedlar of local folklore, is a frequent visitor. All the characters are affected by the tragedy that follows the okapi dream, their journey through grief, especially that of Luisa who is seemingly unable to leave the village, forming the arc of the novel.
I was enthralled by this book from the initial mystery of the okapi dream, Luisa’s relationship with her grandmother, and her initial steps into a relationship with someone outside the protective community bubble she has been reluctant to leave. Superbly translated, this is a novel that stayed with me long after I had finished reading. I loved it.

Heartbreaking and heartwarming, it moved me to tears and it made me smile.
I think there's a strong element of magic realism and there''s a great depiction of small town life, grief and living.
Great characters and storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Unfortunately, I won't be able to review this book. I only review hardcopies and made the epic of error of thinking NetGalley did both forms. Apologies for the inconvenience, and obviously if you're happy to send actually copies, I'd love to hear from you. Best regards,