Go, went, gone

By Jenny Erpenbeck

Subjects: Berlin (germany), fiction, Widowers -- Fiction, Fiction, general, Refugees -- Europe -- Fiction, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Psychological, Berlin (Germany) -- Fiction, Widowers, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, Refugees

Description: The novel tells the tale of Richard, a retired classics professor who lives in Berlin. His wife has died, and he lives a routine existence until one day he spies some African refugees staging a hunger strike in Alexanderplatz. Curiosity turns to compassion and an inner transformation, as he visits their shelter, interviews them, and becomes embroiled in their harrowing fates. Go, Went, Gone is a scathing indictment of Western policy toward the European refugee crisis, but also a touching portrait of a man who finds he has more in common with the Africans than he realizes.