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WORK TITLE: Retrograde
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://kathausler.blogspot.com/
CITY: Berlin
STATE:
COUNTRY: Germany
NATIONALITY:
https://litreactor.com/team/kat-hausler
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:New York University graduate; Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and translator. Works as a translator, Berlin, Germany. Also worked as an English tutor and in a Pizza shop.
AWARDS:Baumeister Fellowship, Fairleigh Dickinson University.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals and websites, including 34th Parallel, Inkspill magazine, and BlazeVOX. Also contributor to All Things That Matter Press and Rozlyn Press. Author of a blog.
SIDELIGHTS
Kat Hausler grew up in Virginia. A fiction writer, she lives in Berlin, Germany, where she works as a translator. She is the author of The Heroes & Other Stories and her debut novel, Retrograde.
The Heroes & Other Stories
Hausler wrote the short story collection The Heroes & Other Stories while living in New York. She edited and published it after moving to Berlin, where she gained a more distant view of life in New York City. The collection features seven stories about life in Manhattan featuring people not certain what they are looking for. For example, there is the self-conscious student who desires a partner to feel fulfilled and the artist whose talent everyone can see but himself. Hausler’s “particular skill is getting inside the soul of her characters, who are the young and insecure, laying bare not just their hopes and fears but also their lack of self-esteem and all the anxieties and unworthy thoughts and motivations … they try to conceal or deny,” wrote David Gardener in Gold Dust magazine.
In the opening story, “What Makes Us Happy,” a young woman’s neediness repels prospective partners. “Over” is a story about a dying relationship, idealized love, and fragile lives. The title story is about four young people sharing an apartment, lacking direction or a strong sense of self, and seeming to be headed for an unhappy life. “All of her characters are imprisoned by aspects of their personalities, hostages to their own psyches, but engaged in determined efforts to break free,” wrote Gardener in Gold Dust magazine, recommending the book to readers “who want stories that neither glamorize nor denigrate the human condition but unrelentingly tell it like it is.”
Retrograde
Hausler’s debut novel, Retrograde, tells the story of Helena, who is crossing the street one day in Berlin when she is hit by a truck. When she awakens, her husband, Joachim, comes to comfort her. It turns out that Helena is suffering from retrograde amnesia. As a result, she can remember much of her life, but not the accident or the few years prior to it. The good news is that doctors believe Helena will regain almost all of her past memories. Meanwhile, Joachim is taking care of Helena but does not tell her that they had been separated for three years prior to the accident. As a result, Helena believes that the two have never been apart.
The novel follows Helena’s growing suspicions as Joachim continually makes up lies to account for the past few years of Helena’s life and, more importantly, their lives together. The fact is neither has seen or talked to each since their separation. Joachim, however, hides this fact, tellings her that she has nothing in his apartment, which the two had shared for years, because the items are in storage due to a water leak. He also isolates Helena with stories of a broken internet and by telling her she did not own a cell phone.
Nevertheless, Joachim keeps trying to reveal the truth to her, especially his side of the story concerning why Helena ultimately left him. He is confident that she will see he is not entirely at fault but still cannot bring himself to admit the truth. Meanwhile, Joachim gets Helena’s employer to allow her to work remotely. However when a coworker shows up, Helena discovers the truth. Now, she must decide whether or not should she stay. Joachim obviously had feelings for her, but the separation was based on their increasingly difficult relationship.
“Hausler’s novel gives equal time to both Helena’s and Joachim’s thoughts, which is crucial in the sort of psychological drama she has crafted,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Melissa Ratcliff, writing for the Paperback Paris website, called Retrograde “an incredibly beautiful look at love put through the test of time,” later adding: “Full of wonderful, romantic moments and, at times, questionable actions, Hausler’s debut novel [is] a delightful read.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Gold Dust, June, 2010, David Gardener, review of The Heroes & Other Stories, pp: 52-53.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2017, review of Retrograde.
ONLINE
34thParallel, http://www.34thparallel.net/ (June 10, 2018), brief author profile.
LitReactor, https://litreactor.com/ (June 10, 2018), contributor profile.
Paperback Paris, http://www.paperbackparis.com/ (July 26, 2017), Melissa Ratcliff, review of Retrograde.
I write literary fiction, translate all kinds of crazy things and live in Berlin.
Originally from Virginia, Kat Hausler is a graduate of New York University and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she was the recipient of a Baumeister Fellowship. Her work has been published by 34th Parallel, Inkspill Magazine, All Things That Matter Press, Rozlyn Press, and BlazeVOX. Her novel Retrograde, published by Meerkat Press in September 2017, was long-listed for the Mslexia Novel Competition. She works as a translator in Berlin.
My blogs
Kat Hausler
About me
Location Berlin
Introduction You can check out my first book, The Heroes & Other Stories at the link above, Or check in with the good people at All Things That Matter Press. To receive a monthly newsletter occasionally containing interesting information, send an email to Kat.Hausler.Fiction[AT]googlemail.com
Kat Hausler
lives in Berlin, Germany, where she works as a translator as well as taking orders at a local pizzeria and giving English lessons. She has published The Heroes & Other Stories (All Things That Matter Press) and is working on an MFA in Fiction at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, United States. KatHausler.blogspot.com
Hausler, Kat: RETROGRADE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hausler, Kat RETROGRADE Meerkat Press (Indie Fiction) $16.95 9, 26 ISBN: 978-1-946154-02-6
A woman suffering from amnesia doesn't realize she's been separated for years from the husband who cares for her in this debut novel.Helena Bachlein works in advertising in Berlin. Separated from her husband, Joachim, for almost three years, she begins to date again. But after a meeting at a local cafe, she is hit by a truck and lands in the hospital with broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken ankle, and amnesia. Joachim is called to the hospital, and since Helena can't remember the accident or the past three years, she thinks that they are still together. He doesn't tell her they are separated and is conflicted about when to break the news. He also neglects to inform her that she has her own apartment and brings her back to his place, explaining that most of her things were put in the basement after a water leak. The internet isn't working; she doesn't have a cellphone; and the apartment is on the fourth floor. He contacts Helena's employer and arranges for her to telecommute, with Joachim returning work to the office via flash drive. A jarring visit from a co-worker named Doro changes everything since she hasn't heard of Joachim. Helena discovers that she has her own apartment. While Joachim struggles to decide if his attempt at saving the marriage has backfired, the tension intensifies as Helena concludes that she must decide whether she should stay in a relationship that she left behind long ago. Hausler's novel gives equal time to both Helena's and Joachim's thoughts, which is crucial in the sort of psychological drama she has crafted. Careful attention is paid to details that may jog Helena's memory, including people and places, but also German language conventions. As the story dives deeper into the layers of memory, each word that is spoken or left unsaid becomes important in a cat-and-mouse mind game that gives this pensive story some elements of a thriller. The love that's described is always on thin ice ("But the moment he touches her, the spell will break, and they'll just be two people in bed together, without any enchantments"). Hausler's ability to describe the precarious state of the emotions involved is consistently convincing. A strongly written tale about resurrecting a marriage under the most unusual and mysterious of circumstances.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hausler, Kat: RETROGRADE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217502/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=cdcd291e. Accessed 10 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217502
2 of 2 5/9/18, 11:12 PM
Retrograde, Kat Hausler: Book Review
Melissa Ratcliff
Melissa Ratcliff4-Star RatingsARC ReviewsBook ReviewsRequested Reviews10 months ago
published on Jul. 26, 2017 @ 11:48 am
Retrograde Book Cover Title: Retrograde
Author: Kat Hausler
Genre: Romance, Women's Fiction
Publisher: Meerkat Press
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Format: ARC
Pages: 243
On a warm summer day in Berlin, Helena is hit by a truck while crossing the street. She awakens to the loving face of her husband Joachim. In addition to a few broken bones, she realizes she can't remember anything about the accident, or even the last few years leading up to it. Retrograde amnesia the doctors call it, and assure her that with time, she should regain her memory.
At loose ends after another botched relationship, Joachim doesn't intend to lie to his estranged wife, Helena. But when he realizes that she doesn't remember their separation, he can't bring himself to tell her. So he does what any rational man would do: he takes her home and pretends they were never apart.
As the lies accumulate, Helena senses something isn't quite right--that her husband is hiding something. When the outside world encroaches, Helena must face an unsettling truth and decide what the past will mean for their future. Is the past binding, or can she go back and change what went wrong in their relationship? And if given the chance, would she even want to?
Goodreads Barnes & Noble
Kat Hausler weaves a beautiful, yet incredibly deceptive story of love in Retrograde, a novel that questions the meaning of memory and its effect on a relationship. If given the chance, would you go back and try to mend a broken relationship? What happens when the past cannot be forgotten? Is it possible to fix a relationship that was already broken? Does love really matter in the end? Hausler takes a stab at answering all of these questions and more in Retrograde by using the concept of retrograde amnesia to recreate a relationship that was broken to begin with between Helena and Joachim.
This is an ARC review of Kat Hausler’s Retrograde, which releases September 26, 2017.
*Special thanks to Meerkat Press for allowing us to review ahead of publication.
This review contains spoilers and quotes from the book.
Written from two different present tense, third-person perspectives, Hausler provides two very different sides to a rather difficult relationship through Helena and Joachim, estranged lovers who have avoided divorce for their own reasons. After learning of their separation due to petty fights and a troublesome relationship on Joachim’s part during a break, the novel begins after a three-year separation period, in which neither Helena nor Joachim have spoken to one another.
Just when Helena finds herself finally moving on, she is struck by a vehicle while crossing the street. When she wakes up in the hospital, she finds that she cannot remember the past few years of her life. As Helena and Joachim were never divorced, he arrives at her bedside, ready and willing to help. Once he learns that Helena does not remember their separation, an intricate web of lies are woven in order to rekindle their broken relationship, as it becomes very obvious that Joachim still has feelings for his estranged wife.
Using Helena’s illness as a chance to mend their broken past, Joachim offers to take care of Helena while she heals, as, in addition to suffering from retrograde amnesia, she has a broken arm and a broken leg. At first, Helena does not notice anything off about their relationship—if anything Joachim is more affectionate and caring, something that she associates with the accident itself.
When Helena is released from the hospital, she is taken to the apartment that she lived in with Joachim for years, completely unaware of her life without him. Although she notices a few slight differences in the appearance of the apartment, Joachim’s small lies and her inability to remember make minor concerns just things she’s forgotten as a result of the accident.
At first glance, Joachim’s attempt to reconcile their relationship is touching, to say the least. Although he is lying to her, he lies with good intentions. He wants to make her happy. He wants to explain his side of the story regarding the event that drove Helena to leave him. He wants her to know that he truly loves her. Each and every day he tries to break the news to her gently, confident in his ability to sway her affections in his favor (as their separation was not entirely his fault).
With each passing day, the lies continue, to a point where Helena realizes something is off. While the world is full of possibilities, Helena and Joachim find themselves increasingly trapped in a web of their own lies, as even Helena begins to keep her actions a secret from Joachim as she slowly uncovers the past that she has forgotten.
Life isn’t like that. The future, even the present, is brimming with possibilities. Hundreds, thousands of decisions to make every hour. But there is only one possible past, and no one can change it.
— excerpt from Kat Hausler’s Retrograde
Although it is easy for the reader to be caught up in the budding relationship between Helena and Joachim, it’s just as easy to discern there is something terribly wrong about it. However, as much as I loved the tender and affectionate moments between Helena and Joachim, I found myself increasingly annoyed and creeped out by Joachim’s actions.
At its core, Retrograde touches on themes of love and relationships, ultimately culminating with the question: If given the chance, would you start one of the most important romantic relationships of your life over? The question, in itself, is very difficult to answer. When you love someone, it’s hard to let them go.
Hausler’s debut novel was an incredibly beautiful look at love put through the test of time. Retrograde is very much about the nature of love as it features many of the ups and downs of a difficult relationship. From touching dates and admiration, to petty fights and full blown arguments, Hausler’s breakout has it all.
In the end, the question is whether or not a relationship is able to be mended with the help of time and compromise. Of course, being able to mend a relationship thanks to a brief lapse in memory is never a bad thing, either. Full of wonderful, romantic moments and, at times, questionable actions, Hausler’s debut novel a delightful read that will keep you turning pages in a frantic attempt to discover whether or not Helena and Joachim remain together.
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pages: 52-53.