Künstlers in Paradise

By: Cathleen Schine

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, New Yorker Best Books of the Year, 2023

There was a time when the family Künstler lived in the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Circumstances transformed that fairy tale into a nightmare, and in 1939 the Künstlers found their way out of Vienna and into a new fairy tale: Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

For years Mamie Künstler, ninety-three-years-old, as clever and glamorous as ever, has lived happily in her bungalow in Venice, California, with her inscrutable housekeeper and her gigantic St. Bernard dog. Their tranquility is upended when Mamie’s grandson, Julian, arrives from New York City. Like many a twenty-something, he has come to seek his fortune in Hollywood. But it is 2020, the global pandemic sweeps in, and Julian’s short visit suddenly has no end in sight.

Mamie was only eleven when the Künstlers escaped Vienna in 1939. They made their way, stunned and overwhelmed, to sunny, surreal Los Angeles, where they joined a colony of distinguished Jewish musicians, writers and intellectuals also escaping Hitler. Now, faced with months of lockdown and a willing listener, Mamie begins to tell Julian the buried stories of her early years in Los Angeles: her escapades with eminent émigrés like Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood, Thomas Mann. Oh, and Greta Garbo. While the pandemic cuts Julian off from the life he knows, Mamie’s tales open up a world of lives that came before him. They reveal to him just how much the past holds of the future.

Cathleen Schine’s captivating and comedic twelfth novel explores exile, émigrés, movie stars, musicians, family bonds and the power of stories—both those we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2022 Cathleen Schine (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Dreamy, drifty, and droll, studded with lush botanical description and historical gems. Schine’s many fans will enjoy."—Kirkus Reviews

"Reading like a cross between Leopoldstadt and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, this does the trick as an emotionally resonant meditation on family, memory, and the need for stories."—Publishers Weekly

Not much there

First off, the narrator was downright annoyed, trying to imitate the voices of the characters. The telling of the story was mildly interesting but never went anywhere.

Grew on me

Very enjoyable historical fiction. The main characters grew on me and afterwards I missed them!

What is Paradise?

The first chapter of “Kunstlers in Paradise” is the best. There is tension as the Kunstler family leaves Vienna in 1939, exiling themselves before the Nazi Holocaust, painfully making their way to Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, there is not much tension after that. The book shifts to modern times. Mamie, who was nine when she fled Vienna, has become a grandmother in her ‘90s. She lives near the Pacific Ocean with her aging helper Agatha and her memories of Hollywood’s émigré community. Her aimless adult grandson Julian arrives from New York City to help during the Covid pandemic.

Two parallel stories ensue. Julian begins to find himself as he listens to his grandmother’s stories and walks her dog, meeting a charming potential girlfriend. And Mamie recounts her life in Venice (California), socializing with well-known European émigrés like Arnold Schoenberg, Greta Garbo and Thomas Mann. Mamie is clever and articulate, and there are a few surprises as the novel continues. But overall, it’s not that interesting. I believe two kinds of readers would enjoy this novel: those who are focused on Holocaust survivors in America and those who like Hollywood history.

Paradise? When I saw the title, I figured it had to be ironic. To a degree, that’s true. Mamie’s artistic and cultured family believed that Vienna was paradise prior to the Nazi takeover. And Southern California is often regarded as a shallow kind of paradise. But by the end of the book, my sense was that there was nothing ironic about regarding Mamie’s new home as a paradise for her. She was able to wrest a successful and happy (enough) life from her refugee roots.

The narration by Jesse Vilinsky is excellent. She does a fine job with the characters’ voices, easily distinguishing them to make the conversations easy to follow.

disappointing

I thought the concept of emigres and and a floundering young adult searching for security in a new setting was creative and interesting. However it became redundant and Mamies name dropping turned me off Also the narration was irritating. Shine was much better in her book. Properties. Re the 2*5 year old who wouldn’t move out. I finished the book reluctantly. Disappointing and mundane ending. Schindler can do much better!

I wanted to love this but it The Kunstlers was a klunker

Story: nothing new
Narration: left a lot to be desired
Characters: undeveloped and lacking oomph
Why did I finish? I paid for it and I'm no quitter

I found this plodding, not very interesting, and not satisfying. The story was superficial and I wanted the story to dig deep.

The narration killed it for me. The characters were so predictable.

I cannot recommend this title.

Dull and predictable

Somehow a novel that incorporates a World War II theme and Greta Garbo is tedious. Characters are stick figures.

dnf

This had a lot of potential but it was so very boring. I gave up.

Thankfully light, and easy read

Finished this pretty quickly. I enjoyed the book but it might be because I have family that lived in West LA during the post war period and who knew the kids of some of the musicians mentioned. The stories of the thriving emigre population and the guilt and shame associated with having the opportunity to escape the “final solution,” rang true. I don’t think I could have managed a more intense story of that period. As for the contemporary period, I also didn’t need a rehashing of how horrific the early pandemic period was. I enjoyed the book and the narrator.

Loved it!

The voice used for Mamie reminded me of my grandmother’s. It startled me, as i haven’t heard her voice since she passed 30 years ago. I loved the spunk and sass of Mamie and Agatha. I laughed out loud several times. I love historical fiction and this book didn’t disappoint.

Could only listen for 2 hours

No narrator needs to stick with a quivering, croaky 93 year old voice. I had to rip out my headphones.