Inka Parei

I wanted to like this book more than I did-- speaking as very casual, not very careful reader, I felt like I both didn't get it all, and didn't buy other parts of it. After I read it, I found reviews of it on two sites that I respect, positive, thoughtful reviews. So I think my reaction should be taken with more than a few grains of salt, and I look forward to Parei's new book, "The Cooling Station", which hopefully will be translated soon.

But, in terms of my own experience, what I didn't buy/get was: the plot. [MAJOR SPOILERS ALERT] Hell, a young woman living in a mostly abandoned building in Berlin, underwent some kind of traumatic experience in the spring of '89 involving a Basque dwarf. Yes, that's right. It seems like it was a rape. She retreats from the world and into martial arts. At some point in time probably close to the present day, Hell's only neighbor Dunkel, with whom she barely interacts, disappears. But before very long, a studly young blond man shows up, with a crazy story about having met Dunkel earlier that year. Hell and the gentleman, Markus Marz, go to bed together and it eventually comes out that he has robbed a bank-- the explanation he gives for robbing the bank is that he grew up in a rich town and hated his banker stepfather. This on top of the Basque dwarf was a little much. Events then get very complicated, for a short book-- Markus and Hell go looking for his real father, Markus and Dunkel turn out to have been teenage friends/sweethearts, Markus turns out to be planning to meet up with a long-lost friend in Berlin who he feels he owes something to and to whom he is going to give the bank money, a friend who just happens to be a certain short Basque man... In the end, nothing really happens during the showdown between Hell, Markus, and the Basque dwarf-- Hell runs aways and Dunkel mysteriously turns up soon after, unscathed and inexplicably friendly. It's not clear whether Markus had anything to do with Dunkel's initial disappearance or even if the whole Markus episode ever happened. This would be tantalizing for some readers, but I just found it frustrating. Perhaps as I get older, I will be happier with the idea of totally unreliable narrators on top of preposterous events.

In addition to frustration with the oblique unresolved nature of the plot, I just found the book to be a slow read—lots of careful descriptions of little details about the characters, some of them seeming forced—Markus in particular is always getting his jacket or bag caught on things. Why? Who knows? An expression of his essential boyishness? Or the fact that he can’t judge space properly? Or just to give the author something to write about?

It also seemed strange that Parei describes in full detail scenes of violence—Hell wreaks havoc on some gangsters and policemen with her martial arts training—but slides away from scenes of sex—Markus and Hell move towards each other, and the curtain descends, and next thing we know it’s morning. It’s odd to have unrelenting descriptions of buildings, neighborhoods, characters’s movements, psychological states, even the effects of political change—Hell sees the first East Berliners appear in her neighborhood when the Wall comes down, and they behave like zombies, surrounding her and staring at her groceries—but for everything to be skipped over, almost old-Hollywood-style, when it comes to sex. Sex is of course difficult to write about.

To suggest radical, unasked-for changes to the book, personally I think that it is strongest when it’s about Hell’s experience of Berlin and her martial arts training and her distant and then closer interactions with Dunkel. The Markus story is a boondoggle. As is the supposed rape by Basque dwarf. Outlandish and essentially sentimental additions to the story of a character that you come to like regardless.… (more)