Reviews

The Appointment: A Novel by Katharina Volckmer

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isabelrstev's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective

4.75

thebobsphere's review against another edition

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5.0

Despite the fact that The Appointment is a slim novella, it contains many themes and points for discussion. Rather than expand on them, I will give a brief list:

The body, German identity, old age, love, parenthood, masculinity, sexual constraints, technology, the human condition, truth vs illusion, gender fluidity, warfare, feminism, religion, the problem of evil.

That’s only a small sample, I’m sure I left a few out.

The book takes the form of a German talking to a doctor, who is examining her. Although the book is presented as a monologue, the are moments when the doctor communicates with the narrator, but we readers do not witness that. In between the philosophical/moral ‘digressions’ the main protagonist slowly reveals information about her life ; that she has moved to the U.K. , an affair she had with a therapist, a previous relationship with someone called K (tribute to The Trial??) her upbringing and her guilt for being a German due to past events (the dr is Jewish). Eventually we find out why she is being examined.

One may get the impression that this monologue is a melodramatic one but that’s the opposite. There are many moments where I laughed loudly and there are doses of black humor : the narrator imagines if Hitler’s ceral bowls would have images of Swastikas on them (these actually did exist), the reasons why one should not pleasure oneself with a banana and the corrosive nature of pigeon excrement, also throwing in that those old ladies who feed pigeons should have been exterminated when the Swiss government were culling pigeons.

However, despite all the plot points mentioned, the book’s subtitle is an indicator of what, I felt The Appointment is mainly about, which is the body : how things differ when one has a penis or a vagina, why men can swim topless and women cannot, why men’s toilets are better equipped for their private parts, even the notions of being described as a male or female are discussed (the main protagonist likes to wear male clothing as clothes should not have a gender)

Not only the sexual aspects of the body are discussed. The main protagonist fears old age, after watching her mother change, and the way it destroys us.

I have stated quite a few times of what makes a novel a ‘Bob Book’ and this is one of them. Complex, controversial and yet with funny moments, The Appointment is an unforgettable, poignant, prescient and eye opening read.