Chapter 1

The opening chapter introduces Richard, a very recently retired university professor, who finds himself on the brink of a new chapter in his life and has more personal time than he has experienced before. He is still a constant thinker and expects this will slow down as he adapts to retirement. He ponders his place in the universe as he stores the possessions from his work, understanding that one day these will be distributed among others or end up at the rubbish dump. He views a kind of meaningful link in this but acknowledges that his objects only have their full meaning when he is there among them, like a sun in the middle of the universe.

Richard spends time thinking about a recent accident at the lake where he lives. A man had drowned and there were reports of a healthy group of men in two boats who had rowed away from him, perhaps perceiving his waving as just a joke.

Chapter 1 Quotes

What’s he going to do with the thoughts still thinking away in his head? Chapter 1

He’s had his share of success. Chapter 1

Just stop putting up resistance – or is that how dying begins? Chapter 1

Or maybe they were afraid the man would pull them down with him, who knows. (Richard’s thoughts about the strong men who row away from a drowning man) Chapter 1

All these objects surrounding him form a system and have meaning only as long as he makes his way among them … (about Richard’s ‘stuff’ from the office) Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 introduces ten men who have embarked on a hunger strike and three days later refused to drink water. They want to stay in Germany, to work and to live. A journalist is looking for an angle to the story as she can’t place a story in the paper unless ‘something special’ happens. The men sit and wait behind a sign that reads ‘we become visible’. Richard walks past the scene but doesn’t notice, he is thinking about a place in Poland, Rzeszow, a town where a system of tunnels had run under the city and where residents would live in hiding or through poverty. The idea of subcultures or groups of people unseen and, ultimately, whose termination is sought by the authorities, reflects the hardships faced by some in the novel.

Chapter 2 Quotes

One Thursday in late August ten men gather in front of Berlin’s town hall. According to news reports they’ve decided to stop eating. Chapter 2

They speak English, French Italian as well as other languages that no one here understands. Chapter 2

If nothing special happens, then I can’t make a story out of it. (Journalist asking police about the men) Chapter 2

We become visible. (sign in front of hunger strike men) Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Richard makes a meal and reflects on the mayhem of war, and how he and his ex-wife had both experienced trauma during the war. His wife had taken stray gunfire in the leg but was saved by her brother dragging her out of the line of fire. Richard was nearly left at a station as his family fled and was saved by a kind Russian soldier, who handed him to his mother through a train window. Both had been rescued by the help of others, a foreshadowing of the need to help others.

Richard mused over the idea of helping others when he sees the hunger strike on television. He wonders why he missed it when he was there earlier. This reinforces the need for the hunger strikers’ sign ‘we become visible’ as they are just another face in the crowd until television and their protest highlight their cause. There is a stark juxtaposition between the hunger strike and Richard savouring his meal in front of the television.

Drowning reports follow the hunger strike story, taking the spotlight away from the hunger strike as the record number makes it special. This echoes the journalist’s request for something special to report when investigating the men in the plaza.

Chapter 3 Quotes

There’s an ideal form for everything, not just in matters of work and art, but also for the most ordinary mundane things. (Richard) Chapter 3

He would have been left behind outright if it hadn’t been for a Russian soldier who handed him to his mother through the window of a train. Chapter 3

You can never count on freedom from mayhem. Chapter 3

What stories lay behind all the random images placed before us? Chapter 3

Chapter 4

The next day is a seemingly normal day for Richard, however, the details of the day contain an obvious thread of food and shopping, highlighting the comparison with the men on the hunger strike. Erpenbeck mentions Richard eating twice and writing a shopping list. Perhaps it is the preparation of food that causes Richard to recall the men to his mind. He is baffled as to why he didn’t see them, their invisibility being more of a focus for Richard than the men’s cause.

Filling in time, Richard turns to the eleventh chapter of the Odyssey by Homer, his favourite. The section includes a recount of Odysseus’ trip to the underworld, a strong theme for Richard who marvels at the things that lie under the city. It also includes a description of the punishment of Sisyphus, struggling eternally to push a boulder over a hill only to have it roll back down whenever it reaches the top. He then sees Tantalus, agonised by hunger and thirst. Tantalus sits in a pool of water overhung by bunches of grapes, but whenever he reaches for the grapes, they rise out of grasp, and whenever he bends down to drink, the water sinks out of reach. The punishments resemble the fight of the men who have struggled without success and are unable to partake in the German society when they reach for equality. Richard further ponders Odysseus having called himself ‘nobody’ to escape from the cyclops cave. A phone call Richard makes also turns to the underground as an archaeologist friend informs him of how a demolition crew have uncovered Nazi art while working. Although his friend, Peter, thinks the ground is full of treasure, Richard considers ‘that the earth is more like a garbage heap containing all the ages of history…’

The hunger strike ten have been moved from the plaza. Richard imagines the sign that once took prominent place in front of the men in the trash or wet on the rain-soaked ground. The simple removal of the men and the sign reinforces their initial point that they are invisible and can be removed without fuss. The public moves on and their cause, like the sign, becomes discarded.

Chapter 4 Quotes

Why didn’t he see the men? We become visible. Chapter 4

He liked the notion of making oneself visible by publicly refusing to say who one is. Chapter 4

…that the earth is more like a garbage heap containing all the ages of history… Chapter 4

The placard with the inscription we become visible is probable in the trash can now or – if it’s too big to fit – lying on the ground, sodden with rain. Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Richard busies himself with mundane tasks, fixing a door and attending to the fireplace. He enjoys his usual rituals concerning tea and food and enjoys the extra time he has to savour them. He reads the paper and wonders what happened to the ten men. He reads about refugee drownings off the coast of Italy which links to the man in the lake on his own doorstep. As he sees the list of African countries supplying refugees, he is embarrassed about how little he knows about the continent and investigates the countries and their capital cities in an atlas. He recalls stories from his childhood that were by today’s standard, quite racist and stereotypical.

Chapter 5 Quotes

‘Negro’ is a word no one would say now but back then people printed it on book jackets. Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Richard is drawn to a meeting in a district called Kreuzberg where the locals and refugees gather to discuss recent issues. The building is described as graffiti covered and poorly lit. He wonders if ‘the only freedom the fall of the Berlin wall brought him [was] the freedom to go to places he is afraid of?’ He is late and the auditorium is already full when he arrives, tents and mattresses scattered throughout. People introduce themselves and talk about why they are there and what they have studied.

A loud noise is heard, many think it to be a bomb. The reactions show a difference in position, one considers which doors are locked, signalling he has experienced this danger before, another is surprised that an attack would take place if they knew white people were at the meeting, revealing a privileged mindset, while Richard simply thinks he might die. The lights go out and the idea that the people are all black shows the simple fact that it is only skin colour that separates them; in the dark, in danger, they are all the same.

The lights return and a man screams, his laptop having been stolen in the dark. A neighbour thinks if he has a laptop it must be from selling drugs. This assumption underscores the new stereotypes replacing the more obvious ones encountered by Richard in his children’s book. Richard leaves.

Chapter 6 Quotes

Is the only freedom the fall of the Berlin wall brought him the freedom to go to places he is afraid of?’ Chapter 6

Don’t they know there are white people here? (Neighbour thought in meeting after noise like an explosion) Chapter 6

Just at this moment the lights suddenly go out and for a few seconds all the people in the room are black. Chapter 6

What’s a refugee doing with a laptop? the neighbour thinks. Chapter 6

Chapter 7

With time on his hands, Richard’s mind is full. He is ever mindful of the drowned man’s undiscovered body in the lake at his place. He questions his own courage, admitting he may have acted cowardly by simply leaving the meeting. Richard is also fearful of entering the city as since the wall came down, the city has doubled in size and he doesn’t know his way around. His primary reflection, however, is of the gathering. He ponders why they all said their names, thinking it to be ‘absurd’. Considering the sign about becoming visible, a public confession of one’s name is a genuine way to feel noticed in the community and is at odds with the hunger strikers who refused to give their names to the police.

Chapter 7 Quotes

Saying his name, it appeared to him, would have been a sort of confession. (Richard) Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Richard feels the best way to defeat the fear is to get ‘back on the horse’. He heads to the square and sees the refugees in the light of day together with white sympathisers. The sympathisers are wearing ripped clothes and have nose and ear piercings. The refugees are brightly dressed and holding slogan-filled banners. One is wearing gold shoes and Richard can’t help but consider Hermes. Hermes was considered a messenger of the gods and had a pair of winged golden sandals to give him speed to deliver messages. He met with Odysseus in disguise and helped him to defeat Circe, a woman who had captured Odysseus’ men. Richard notes the juxtaposition between the sympathisers who ‘refuse to believe the world is in idyllic place’ and the refugees who ‘are trying to gain admittance to this world that appears to them convincingly idyllic’.
Richard recounts the geographical changes in Berlin. His own street was dissected by the wall and when it fell, he was met with a warm tearful embrace by those on the other side, a fitting metaphor for unifying the whites and refugees. He sits and observes the scene, noting an exchange as people donate goods via a white woman who distributes them to refugees. A reporter approaches the woman with the intention of publishing a story showing the plight of the refugees and the meagre amount the government provides, but the woman explains how the story would only fuel the interests of men who charge refugees boarding fees. This exemplifies that good intentions alone are not enough to help the refugees. After sometime, Richard returns home. Later, he considers the women’s words that ‘when doing nothing gets to be too much for them we organise a demonstration’, words that resonate with the recently retired Richard.

Chapter 8 Quotes

… they refuse to believe the world is in idyllic place (sympathisers in square) … The refugees on the other hand are trying to gain admittance to this world that appears to them convincingly idyllic. Chapter 8

The effects of a person’s actions are almost always impossible to predict and often prove to be the exact opposite of what the person originally intended. Chapter 8

When doing nothing gets to be too much for them we organise a demonstration. (woman in square) Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Richard spends time researching refugees, which plays to his strength as an academic, and writes a list of questions. Considering the journalist’s point that good intentions are not enough, he comes to believe ‘it is important to ask the right questions’.

Chapter 9 Quotes

It’s important to ask the right questions. Chapter 9

Chapter 10

During Richard’s research, the tents in the square, Oranienplatz, are removed, and charities assume responsibility for the refugees as the temperature drops speedily with winter approaching. Richard continues studying and is oblivious to this. He reads about colonisation in Africa by both the Germans and the British.

Richard makes a trip to the plaza but finds the refugees have been moved. One of the locations to which the refugees have been moved is close to Richard’s house. On the train home, a recorded message warns about the gap between the train and the platform. Richard interprets the warning to be motivated from legal responsibility and insurance protection rather than from a genuine compassion for travellers, mirroring the state’s reaction to the refugee situation.

Chapter 10 Quotes

Can headshaking be considered a sign? Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Richard turns his attention to unpacking his belongings. His belongings contrast with the meagre assets of the refugees prominently. He heads to the nursing home near his residence where some of the refugees have been housed and is met with bureaucracy and red tape. ‘Fear produces order, he thinks, as do uncertainty and caution’. He uses his own title as professor to gain a meeting with the director of the facility. The director is defensive at first but eventually permits Richard to visit.

Chapter 11 Quotes

Fear produces order, he thinks, as do uncertainty and caution. Chapter 11

We jumped in to lend a hand because nobody else wanted to. (Director nursing home) Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Richard and the director go upstairs to visit the refugees. The passing of the identification to the security guard, coupled with the knowledge that the guard’s desk is probably reclaimed from an old Government Party building, adds to the prison-like feel of the home. Richard is fearful and considers a retreat but stays and is introduced to Rashid. There is always something propelling Richard even though he is often fearful or cautious. Richard talks with the men and takes notes. Interspersed with the locations and religions are observations that reveal Richard’s own lack of knowledge of the area and its languages, for example, the Yoruba language and the fact that Nigeria has a coast? As the questions Richard intends to ask are listed, the facts about 550 from 800 people having drowned when the boat on which they were fleeing capsized, recurs in the text. The drowning is a common motif in the novel. The men share information and a song with Richard. They tell him how they wish to find work and say they spend too much time thinking, a similarity they share with Richard. Richard leaves the men, and notices the number on the door and the flickering light in the hall, facets reminiscent of an ‘institution’.

Chapter 12 Quotes

If truth be told Richard wouldn’t mind beating a retreat. Chapter 12

We think and think because we don’t know what will happen. (Abdusalem) Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Richard returns the next day and is told he needs to be accompanied upstairs. The fact that anyone could have spoken to the refugees for some time when they were in the square has been changed as they are in ‘agreement’ now. This reminds Richard of the term ‘bureaucratic geometry’ where ‘the colonised are smothered in bureaucracy, which is a pretty clever way to keep them from taking political action’. Richard meets new men today, and a younger boy. He is at a loss to find a meaningful connection. However, the author reveals the young man has a deep story and tradition, only veiled by lack of questions and language. Richard sees the boy’s traditional nomadic life being replicated in Germany, first the plaza, then the nursing home. He catches a glimpse of the world from the boy’s point of view and feels he is learning again, like a child. He is dismayed that with a lack of work the men sit and sleep all day like the elderly.

Chapter 13 Quotes

The colonised are smothered in bureaucracy, which is a pretty clever way to keep them from taking political action. Chapter 13

The Africans probably had no idea who Hitler was, but even so: only if they survived Germany now would Hitler truly have lost the war. Chapter 13