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A review by jakegayer
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
3.5
Very different perspective on east Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything that happened leading up to that from the perspective of an easterner wasn’t anything I’d ever thought of. The plot itself was fairly decent but I felt it was written to be analysed, to be studied word for word, and I didn’t come into the book wanting that, meaning I understand why it is rated as high as it is.
// spoilers // The main idea I took from it are the effects revolution or societal turmoil/upheaval have on individual relationships; Katharina and Hans are a microcosm of everyone who has lived in a time of great turmoil, their minds are too focused on the destruction of the niche they’ve grown themselves into to find the mental capacity to question the individual relationships they have. Both of them desperately need to be out of this relationship but can’t deal with feeling alone in a whole other aspect of life; they already feel alone on a societal level.
// spoilers // The main idea I took from it are the effects revolution or societal turmoil/upheaval have on individual relationships; Katharina and Hans are a microcosm of everyone who has lived in a time of great turmoil, their minds are too focused on the destruction of the niche they’ve grown themselves into to find the mental capacity to question the individual relationships they have. Both of them desperately need to be out of this relationship but can’t deal with feeling alone in a whole other aspect of life; they already feel alone on a societal level.