I Laugh Me Broken

In the disappointing latest from Van der Zijpp (In the Neighborhood of Fame), a New Zealand writer named Ginny travels to Berlin to write a novel about a historical figure from WWI. There, Ginny, 36, looks up a cousin on Facebook who tells her she has a 50% chance of contracting Huntington’s disease, which causes cognitive decline. She proceeds to keep this knowledge a secret from her fiancé and others, and she puts off taking a test to learn whether she inherited the gene from her mother, who died by suicide when Ginny was a little girl. Ever since, she’s had a hard time believing she is worth anyone’s time. While in Berlin, Ginny meets a series of acquaintances and asks them what they would do if they only had several good years left to live. The answers aren’t particularly insightful. Christoph, a friendly neighbor in her building who takes her out for beers, says he’d either become more “ambitious” or “start to not give a fuck.” Pascual, a grad student who says her accent is “cute,” proclaims he’d “enjoy life in the moment.” The author has a thought-provoking premise, but the story lacks character development, and Ginny’s interlocutors don’t add much either. This doesn’t live up to expectations. (July)