Berlin Atomized

Argentine writer Kornberg debuts with an evocative portrait of disaffected youth and an unsettling, war-torn near future. In early aughts Buenos Aires, the Goldstein siblings—Nina, Jeremías, and Mateo—and their peers experiment with sex and drugs and sleep “the least deserved siestas in the world.” Yet each sibling harbors “a simmering death wish,” which takes them to new lives and locales—Jeremías is drawn into the music world, and eventually to Europe; Mateo disappears to a kibbutz in Israel and then joins the Israel Defense Forces; and Nina whiles away her life, trying to make art and fill a void left by her brothers. The novel extends to the 2060s, chronicling a new European war and revolutions in both politics and art. Kornberg is better at detailing the lives of bored elites than constructing the speculative elements, and the novel loses some of its spark as the core sibling relationships expand to include flatly drawn lovers, friends, and collaborators. The novel’s strongest section takes place after a young Nina and Jeremías escape Buenos Aires for Punta del Este, Uruguay, where “nights didn’t feel like a competition of who could come home the latest.” Readers will look forward to seeing what Kornberg does next. (Dec.)