Kairos

No cover

Jenny Erpenbeck: Kairos (2023, Granta Books)

English language

Published June 24, 2023 by Granta Books.

ISBN:
978-1-78378-612-1
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (4 reviews)

6 editions

Review of 'Kairos' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize, Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (1967) offers much to ponder. Set against the backdrop of the communist German Democratic Republic (DDR) during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the story revolves around the relationship between Hans and Katharina. She is 19, on the brink of discovering the world DDR; he is older than her father, with a family and a career in writing and broadcasting. If the 34-year age gap were not unsettling enough, Hans is also unsympathetic, has a past in the Hitler Jugend, and speaks approvingly of the Soviet regime.

The story is fast-paced, with virtually every sentence introducing new information and perspectives shifting within paragraphs. Unfortunately, it never truly took off for me. By centring on Katharina, Erpenbeck crafts a narrative of highs and lows in her love for Hans. While their affair begins rather enigmatically, it eventually fell flat for …

"two different sorts of time, two competing presents, two everyday realities, one serving as the other's netherworld"

No rating

This is a love story with power dynamics that will make you angry - an older, married man with a much younger women, the former often manipulating the latter. But all of this happens in the context of 1980s Berlin, just before (and then during) the fall of the Wall. The writing is great, which makes me wonder how much we should thank the translator (Michael Hofmann).

There are moments in this book that remind me of China Miéville's The City and the City. Here's one:

"Through a tunnel and then up to the platform, and now she's suddenly on the other side of the steel barrier. She knows what it looks like when seen from the East. You're almost forced to look at it when you stand on the eastbound platform, waiting for the train heading towards Strausberg or Erkner or Ahrensfelde. But now all of the sudden what …

avatar for billybooknews

rated it

5 stars
avatar for fakeplastictrees

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Germanic literature

Lists