Reviews

Solid 4.5. I'm not sure what about this book I really liked. So much friendship. What a neat concept. Maybe it rang a lot of truth bells for me in the injustices suffered by the refugees. A pretty interesting note about all of the refugees being men. Just a ton of respect.

biscuitngrav's review against another edition

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5.0

Erpenbeck’s style and tact establish her as a master of straightforward social critique, complex extended metaphor, and effortlessly deliberate detail.

blairmahoney's review against another edition

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4.0

Impressive in many ways, this look at modern Germany and the treatment of refugees sometimes doesn't feel like much of a 'novel' with what we might expect of character and plot development. The protagonist, retired academic Richard, is something of an enigma, and Erpenbeck withholds a lot of his past from the reader throughout, just giving us the occasional tantalising glimpse of a life that is more complex than we see from his actions in the present time of the novel. The refugee characters each get to tell their stories to Richard in varying degrees of depth and Erpenbeck avoids simplistic depictions.

essentiallynovel's review against another edition

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5.0

This book holds an absolutely beautiful story. Having myself just returned from working with refugees in Greece, this story brought me back there, replaying my own experiences, and what I wouldn't give to return, therefore, I identified a lot with this book. I'm not sure if it's because I read a version translated from it's original publishing in German, or perhaps it's just the author's style, but much like Amanda Coplin's The Orchardist (another of my top favorite's) there are no quotation marks, so at times you may be confused if it's a statement, a thought, or just part of the description. This is not a book to read through quickly, which is one reason why I took my time reading it. The slow transformation of Richard is lovely to see- how he gets entangled into the lives of the African refugees, and the relationships that form. This book reminds us all that there's always more to a person's story beyond what you can see with your eyes and when we take the time to ask questions and listen, we often find and experience blessings we never knew existed.

Here's a passage that I believe gives a great point from the book's overall message and is one we must all ponder on:
"Is the rift dividing them in fact a bottomless chasm; is that why such powerful turbulences have been released? And is it a rift between Black and White? Or Poor or Rich? Stranger and Friend? Or between those whose father's have died and those whose father's are still alive? Or those with curly hair and those with straight? Those who call their dinner fufu and those that call it stew? Or those who like to wear yellow, red, and green t-shirts and those who prefer neckties? Or those who like to drink water and those who prefer beer? Or between speakers of one language or another? How many borders exist within a single universe? Or, to ask it differently, what is the one true, crucial border? ... it's just a matter of a few pigments in the material that's known as skin in all the languages of the world, meaning that the violence on display here is not at all the harbinger of a storm in the center of the universe but is in fact due merely to an absurd misunderstanding that has been dividing humankind and preventing it from realizing how enormously long the lifespan of a planet is compared to the life and breath of any one human being. Whether you clothe your body in hand-me-down pants and jackets from a donation bin, brand-name sweater's, expensive or cheap dresses, or uniforms with a helmet and visor- underneath this clothing, every one of us is naked and must surely, let's hope, have taken pleasure in sunshine and wind, in water and snow, have eaten or drunk this and that tasty thing, perhaps even have loved someone and been loved in return before dying one day."

Rating: S:1, L:2, V:2

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