Reviews - Kairos | The StoryGraph

1.93k reviews for:

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.47 AVERAGE

meghqan's review against another edition

4.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

star_ab's review against another edition

3.25

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A relationship between a young woman and an older man that adapts sexual torture as punishment for transgressions against the male ego is hardly original. You've read this before, only this has a thin veil of East/West Germany tensions in the background. Katharina is simply insufferable and boring until she finally starts thinking of things other than Hans. And Hans is what you'd expect from a male character who centres himself in everything and has no ability to criticise himself – if Erpenbeck was looking to write a male lover who has no appeal, and leaves the reader baffled as to why he is pursued at all, then she did a fantastic job.

I had hoped the tensions of their location and the shifting politics would play more of a role, but they're really just a background to an abusive relationship. This is neither a 'doomed romance' or a 'story of love and betrayal', as the accolades on the cover state, and I wish abuse and obsession would stop being labelled as love. A lot of this could also be skim read because it's stuffed with self-indulgence that adds nothing to the experience. Erpenbeck clearly has talent, but this story is just repetitive and so contrite that it becomes farcical.

Content Warnings

_booksagsm's review against another edition

4.0

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck is a powerful story about a young woman who falls into an intense, all-consuming relationship with an older man in 1980s East Berlin. Their personal story unfolds during the final years of the German Democratic Republic, and just like the country, their relationship slowly falls apart. What begins as love turns into control, obsession, and emotional damage—making the book both personal and political at the same time.

The title Kairos comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “the right or opportune moment.” And that’s what this book is really about—how a single moment in time can feel perfect, even if it later turns painful. Years later, the woman receives a box of her former lover’s letters. As she reads them, her memories shift. She starts to question everything: was it love, or just a need to be seen? This idea—that memory changes with time—is one of the most moving parts of the story.

The book won the International Booker Prize for its unique way of blending personal heartbreak with political history. Jenny Erpenbeck’s writing is poetic, thoughtful, and full of emotional truth. With the help of a brilliant translation by Michael Hofmann, Kairos captures how love, time, and power can shape us—and how the past never really lets go.