Kairos (2023) by Jenny Erpenbeck

German author Jenny Erpenbeck

Book Review

Kairos (2023)

by Jenny Erpenbeck

  German author Jenny Erpenbeck is one of those non-English language authors who seemingly emerges into the Anglo literary sphere overnight, only for readers to learn that she's been doing it for years and is, in fact, a contender for the Nobel Prize.  It all came as news to me!  First, Kairos showed up on my radar when it was nominated for the Booker International Prize.  I checked out the Ebook from the library, looked at the summary, "Much younger woman and much older man have affair during the collapse of East Germany", and let the check out lapse.  Then, Kairos got nominated for the Booker International shortlist and I sighed and checked the still-available Ebook out from the library and read the book.

   I think I've said before- and recently, that the "Much younger woman, much older man" literary plot is one of my least favorite- just behind "Wealthy and well educated urban American couple gets divorced", and "well educated American man or woman has a crisis involving their values."  Who are these older men obsessed with banging women just out of their teens- or in this case- a 19 year old?  I'm convinced that is men who didn't actually have sex with 19 year olds WHEN THEY WERE THAT AGE, and then spend the rest of their lives trying to make up for it.  It's sad, really, male desire.   At least, these days, the book is more likely to be written by a woman than a man.

    Kairos does gets points for depicting the East Germany landscape of the pre-collapse era- I love me some 80's Communist country milieu, but I didn't share the love that reviewers have felt for the story.  I'm going to feel dumb about this review in ten years when Erpenbeck wins the Nobel.