A review by novabird
The Appointment by Herta Müller

5.0

As most people who have ridden trams/public transportation know, the on-board atmosphere can be claustrophobic and the act of trying to exit/escape can be a feeling of desperation. HM uses the tram as the vehicle for a stream of consciousness to paint a monotonous, claustrophobic tension that builds and builds on itself and reflects her experience of living in communist Romania.

At one point, the anonymous narrator confronts two people in a red car who she thinks had been spying on her only to discover that they were a couple. This early incidence foreshadows a gradual undoing that follows along a psychological trajectory that leads to the beginning of

Spoiler

paranoia =

.

“She would have unpeeled a little of the secret, but kept the core silent.”

Maintaining one’s dignity against false accusations is a skill and it is and not an act of commission. In, “The Appointment,” the narrator has to create falsehood in order to keep her sanity.

Spoiler

The narrator in part ends up colluding with her interrogator in her bid for freedom from persecution and has to struggle with herself as a result

The oppressive tone of the novel is offset by dark beauty, and dark humor.

“The Appointment,” is a riveting and realistic portrayal of the surreal conditions of mental torture, where both the interrogator and the interrogated know that it is nothing but word play composed of petty accusations against innocent people. 5

“Every word in your face
Knows something of the vicious circle
But doesn’t say it