Kairos

"Sure. Erpenbeck was born in the former East Germany, or GDR. That’s the context to this novel. As an aside, I’ve been following and admiring her work for almost a decade, and interviewed her about her two earlier novels, The End of Days and Visitation . Her last book Go, Went, Gone was longlisted for the International Booker in 2018. Kairos feels different in certain ways, especially in its parallels with Erpenbeck’s life, at least in terms of timeframe, but not necessarily the relationship at the centre of the novel. It’s an expertly written book about the entanglement of personal and national transformations, set in the tumult of 1980s and 1990s Berlin, during the dying years of East Germany. The story unfolds around a disturbing affair between a 19-year-old student and a 53-year-old married writer in East Berlin. Initially there is intense attraction. They both love music and art. He is a kind of mentor to her. They meet in secret, it’s very dramatic. It starts with love and passion, but it’s at least as much about power, art and culture—a different kind of obsession. The discussions of music, poetry and theatre take place alongside the political upheavals. It’s a novel about the weight of history, how it impinges on our lives. What makes it so unusual is that it is both beautiful and uncomfortable. I don’t remember having quite this precise combination of feelings in response to a novel, at least not recently. She invites you to make the connection between these generation-defining political developments and this devastating, even brutal relationship, questioning the nature of destiny and agency. It’s emotional and personal. It starts with optimism and trust, then unravels so badly."