Get real, Schwester!

[Coffee Break]

I encountered the sentence "Get real, Schwester!", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

Just don’t fall in love with me. Which is when she planted a kiss under my ear—You smell good, uttered almost like a jeer and an afterthought. Venom, venom, venom. Venom and its antidote, like the warm, puffed taste of newly baked bread on a cold morning when the crust suddenly cuts into your gum and turns the most wholesome taste on earth into rank and fulsome gunk. No things, okay? meaning, No sullen faces, no sulky-pouties, no guilt stuff, okay? Because it could turn into her hell. Get real, Schwester! The mopey heiress from Maine didn’t rattle so many keys before unlocking the fortress. The small-time hussy speaks the lingo of eternity—do me a favor! And all that talk of lying low—what prattle and claptrap!

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Second Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. The next day, Clara asks the protagonist not to fall in love with her, and the protagonist is pondering about her remark now.

In this part, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
What would it mean to "get real" here...?

Also, I learned that "Schwester" in German means "sister" in English, but I am not sure whether it refers to Clara, and why suddenly a German word appeared...

 

[emsr2d2]

Didn't we have another couple of quotes from this book in which one of the speakers used/abused a couple of German words? Also, I believe a couple of users have commented that that author seems to have his own very specific style of writing. That's borne out by almost every excerpt you post.

Did you look up the meaning of "Get real!"?

 

[probus]

I am not sure ... why suddenly a German word appeared.

Nor am I.

As we have told you before, this writer's style is idiosyncratic to say the least. Do not take anything in his book as an example of good English writing style.

 

[emsr2d2]

I just had a quick look at a précis (and some reviews) of this book. It says the two main protagonists are Jewish. Yiddish is a German-based language. That might explain why German words occasionally appear.

I note from post #1 that this excerpt is taken from the second night of, presumably, the titular eight nights. I'll be honest - I'm not sure I can face answering questions about another six nights of this!

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break While Yiddish is based on German, it is not German.

If memory serves, Yiddish is spoken mostly by Jews in New York City. (I could be wrong.)

Several Yiddish words have become part of the English language. Examples:

schmuck
putz
yenta
kibitz
schmaltz
schmaltzy

 

[Coffee Break]

@emsr2d2, @probus and @Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So "Schwester" is not German but Yiddish, spoken by Jews in New York City! I learned a new thing all thanks to you.

Did you look up the meaning of "Get real!"?

Yes, actually I looked it up and found that it means "to realize/accept the truth," or "to be realistic or practical", but I am not sure how that meaning can fit into this context, so I just wanted to ask you, if that is okay.

My only guess is that, it might mean, "Because the sulky-pouty thing can cause Clara's hell, Clara is against being sulky-pouty... Face the truth, sister!" But I am not sure.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break Maybe you mean it can cause her anguish.

 

[Tarheel]

More Yiddish loanwords.

bagel
blintz
chutzpah
dreck
glitz
klutz

(I looked up Yiddish. I did not see a reference to New York. Note, however, the double qualifier. Also note that while Yiddish as spoken in this country might have started in New York, it did not stay there.)

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So, because "sulky-pouty" things can cause Clara anguish, Clara is objecting to those things.
But at such attitude, the protagonist is saying that Clara should "get real"--face the situation as it is, rather than objecting to the current situation, I guess.
He might be saying, "Face it, sister!".

I sincerely appreciate your help, as always.