Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

Tuesday, June 25, 2024--San Antonio 

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck won the International Booker Prize this year.  Written in German, it was translated into English by Michael Hoffman.  There have been great reviews both for the book and the English translation of it.  The story takes place over a period of years from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.  This is the period in which communism began to crumble in the east and eventually the wall in Berlin was opened to the west and East Germany was annexed with the West.  The story is built around a relationship that develops between a young student who has just graduated at the age of 19 and a married man more than 30 years older than she.  Both are leading more privileged lives than those of most citizens of East Germany.  The young woman has relatives in Cologne who send western currency to be spent in the "hard currency" shop in Berlin, and she is even approved for an exit visa (rare for the government to give to anyone) to go to Cologne and visit her grandmother for a week.  The man, a writer and a host of a classical music radio show, has a visa that allows him to leave for the west regularly for presentations, conferences, etc., and is paid enough for him to entertain frequently in the best restaurants and bars of East Berlin.  They begin an affair.  But there are early signs of an imbalance in the relationship beyond age.  He is married and has no plans to leave his wife.  They appear to fall head-over-heals in love with each other, but he is demanding and expects her not to question his marriage or demands.  Their story seems to be a personal one paralleling what is happening in the government of their country.  The author parallels the two stories (of the couple's relationship and the happenings within the government) over time.  The young lady continues to love him as things deteriorate.  He becomes overly critical and demanding when he finds out she has had a one-night affair while away on a 1-year internship at a theater where she is learning set design.  They break up and get back together.  He sends audio tapes that are severely critical of her and expects her to respond in writing to what he has written.  She isn't mature enough to recognize that he is being manipulative and self-centered.  It is horrible to read what he has said on these tapes.  But the relationship continues off and on with the man never being sorry for how he is or admitting any wrong while always blaming her for having ruined it all between them.  The period between the fall of the wall and the combining of the two former countries is fascinating to read.  Because the two main characters are East Germans, it is told from the perspective of East Germans and what they faced during this period--a currency exchange (1 West German Mark for every 2 East German Marks saved by the citizens there), jobs being lost, buildings being taken over by West German agencies, rents being raised 3-fold for apartments (while the renters were also waiting to see if they would even be allowed to keep their apartments), etc.  By the time the book ends most of the privileged class of East Germans citizens has fallen, and it is common for East Germans to question what cost they have paid for "freedom" (which starts to seem to be only the right to buy whatever they want when they want it [if they have the money] vs. not having quality goods or everything they might have wanted on the shelves in the past).  The book is a bit complicated to read, but it was worth the effort for me.  I gave it 4 stars out of 5.