Barbara isn’t Dying by Alina Bronsky

Translated by Tim Mohr

Review by Annabel

The main theme of this novel is not new, but Bronsky has such a refreshing take on it that I couldn’t help but devour it from the first page. It opens:

When Herr Schmidt woke up early Friday and didn’t smell coffee, at first he thought Barbara might have died in her sleep. It was an absurd idea—Barbara was as healthy as a horse—though even more absurd was the possibility that she could have overslept. She never overslept. But when he turned over in bed and saw that the other half of the bed was empty, it seemed to him that the most likely explanation was that Barbara had keeled over dead on her way to the kitchen.

Walter is ever the fatalist! He discovers Barbara on the bathroom floor, alive. They wrestle, getting her back to bed eventually – she’s heavier than he expected. He leaves her to rest and goes down to try to work out how to make coffee. Of course, when he finally works it out, finding the machine, filters and grounds, and fills it with water, he makes it impossibly strong! He drinks it, but can’t take it to Barbara, so he trudges off to the bakery where there is a machine, leaving the expectant dog Helmut behind this time. They charge him an exorbitant 2 Euros 80! But Barbara gets her now cold coffee, “I’m a bit weak,” she says.

This is the start of Walter’s food adventures. What to feed the dog (ground beef, browned), and exploring the chest freezer come next. Barbara had always batch cooked and frozen leftovers, everything named and dated, and he selected the soup with meatballs she had mentioned.

Meanwhile Barbara stays in bed, sleeping and resting, occasionally swallowing a few small mouthfuls of food. Walter is convinced that he can feed her back to health. Their son Sebastian, who lives fairly close by, arrives and takes her to the doctor. It’s obviously serious but she refuses to go to hospital, and neither of them tell Walter what was wrong with her.

Idly watching nothing in particular on TV, Walter’s attention is piqued by a jolly Polish cook called Medinski, and he wonders how hard cooking can actually be if you follow the recipe to the letter. Sebastian shows him how to find more clips and archive programmes on the chef’s channel on the couple’s shared computer. They use Barbara’s logon, and ere long Walter is a regular visitor and begins trying out recipes and commenting, those commenting back of course assume he is Barbara, which leads to some fun misunderstandings, and an online sort-of friendship with the chef.  

All through the novel, Walter has problems asking for help, even from his children, whose own complicated lives are alien to him. Sebastian is divorced, with a son who spends alternate weeks with him; his daughter Karin lives with her female partner Mai, a fact he struggles to acknowledge. Both try to help when they visit; they suggest getting in a cleaner and a carer for Barbara, but Walter is so stubborn, it has to be on his terms. Meanwhile Barbara is still not getting any better.

As the weeks go on, Walter gradually finds himself meeting more and more of Barbara’s friends and acquaintances. He discovers that she volunteers at a homeless centre from the landlady of the pub. Everyone seems to know that Barbara is not well, and their attentions are suffocating to Walter, but he insists on bringing a cheesecake as her penciled-in contribution to the centre, much to their surprise. He does make one new friend, the blue-haired girl at the bakery, who gives him a cast-iron recipe for sand cake, which will be a sensation on the cooking website. He used to go bowling once a week with a group of old cronies, who miss him, when he strolls back in as if he’d never missed a session.

As we follow Walter’s exploits, we’re gradually working our way up to Christmas and New Year – and as you might expect, this occasion will provide the climax of the book, which wasn’t what I expected at all. My lips are sealed except to say that Walter discovers he has a level of humanity that he’s hidden so long, and he has an epiphany.

Tim Mohr’s translation captures Walter’s personality perfectly, as Alina Bronsky’s novel is all told from Walter’s point of view.  Barbara isn’t Dying is a cleverly constructed and witty, yet moving and poignant story. Walter’s trials and tribulations are comic, and he may have started out as rather curmudgeonly, but as he discovers new skills, makes new friends and takes care of his wife—something he promised he’d do when they married, but never had to put into action before—he is able to take stock and realise that he’s not been the most caring husband and father.

 Barbara isn’t Dying is an engrossing novella length book, with great comic set-pieces and hidden depths that I enjoyed very much indeed.

Annabel is one of Shiny’s founders and editors.

Alina Bronsky, Barbara isn’t Dying, (Europa Editions, 2025). 978-1787705816, 182 pp., paperback original.

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