Chapter 42

Anne tells Richard that her mother’s carer has returned and shows him a picture of her mother looking fondly at Ali. Richard sees what it was really like, knowing Anne’s mother’s prejudice, but compares that to any tension that families hide at Christmas. Sylvia and Detlef have dinner with Jorg and Monika, who returned from Florence. Jorg and Monika tell them there were ‘Africans everywhere’ in Florence. They show Richard, Detlef and Sylvia a photo they took of women who were soliciting in the snow. They are flippant about the fact that they saw them, treating them like a tourist attraction, moving on to pictures of other things. Although Monika reveals her ignorance and prejudice by suggesting ‘You really have to be careful, a lot of times they’re carrying illnesses – hepatitis, typhus. AIDS’.

Osarobo returns from Italy and Richard asks how it was. Osarobo mentions that ‘the Italians get up and sit somewhere else if I sit next to them’. He and Richard get along well, playing the piano and talking about Osarobo’s paperwork. He will need 680 euros to collect the paperwork including 200 Euros for a man to give him a fake address as his address. Taking advantage of the refugees seems like a law of nature to Richard, survival of the fittest. When Detlef and Sylvia pop in unannounced, Osarobo seems uncomfortable and leaves. Richard is disappointed he left.

Chapter 42 Quotes

The German language is my bridge into this country. (Ali) Chapter 42

Under different circumstances, he’d no doubt already be enrolled in medical school. (About Ali) Chapter 42

You really have to be careful, a lot of times they’re carrying illnesses – hepatitis, typhus. AIDS. Or so I hear. (Monika about the Africans) Chapter 42

In the subway the Italians get up and sit somewhere else if I sit next to them. (Osarobo) Chapter 42

Chapter 43

When Richard arrives in the new year with presents for Rashid, Apollo and Ithemba, he is met by the thin man he has seen with a broom, and finds out his name is Karon Anubo. The man asks Richard to help him understand a summons he had received from the police for failing to produce ID. He showed the officers identification but they refused to believe the photo was him. After a difficult drive to the city, they are unceremoniously told the officer responsible is unavailable and they will have to return another time. This would have been an epic trip and expensive if Karon had to make it alone and he had already sent the transit money home to his family after his brother’s accident.

Richard reflects on the lack of sympathy he has heard in Germany. The overwhelming response is that Africans need to take care of the problems in their country and then Germans wouldn’t need to take care of them now. This uneducated opinion is challenged by Richard who compares writing a to-do list for Germans with the Africans to-do list. Richard would write ‘schedule repairman, urologist appointment, meter reading’. Then he thinks of the men; Karon would write ‘eradicate corruption, cronyism, and child labour in Ghana’, Apollo’s to-do list would include ‘file lawsuit against Areva group (France) install a new government in Nigeria’, Rashid would write ‘broker a reconciliation between Christian and Muslim in Nigeria’ and Hermes would write ‘prohibit the sale of weapons from US and China to Chad’.

Richard asks Karon how much a piece of land costs that his family could live on in Ghana. Karon says about 3000 euros. Richard compares this to the 1500 Euros he nearly spent on a surfboard or the 800 Euros he spent on a vacuum cleaner. He offers to buy land for Karon and expects him to be overjoyed and speechless, but Karon is silent. He looks worried and says that it would be one full year before the first harvest. Richard concedes he is right, and realises that Karon has seen so much to worry about that he is unable to truly hope.

Chapter 43 Quotes

The police official isn’t sorry, let alone very sorry. Chapter 43

The Africans have to solve their own problems in Africa. Chapter 43

‘eradicate corruption, cronyism, and child labour in Ghana’. (Karon) Chapter 43

‘file lawsuit against Areva group (France) install a new government in Nigeria’. (Apollo) Chapter 43

‘broker a reconciliation between Christian and Muslim in Nigeria’. (Rashid) Chapter 43

‘prohibit the sale of weapons from US and China to Chad’. (Hermes) Chapter 43

It would be one year before the first harvest. Chapter 43

Karon’s worries have ground him down to such an extent that he’s even afraid to hope. Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Richard joins his friend Peter on New Year’s Eve. He contemplates the arbitrary nature of New Year’s, that the past is gone and the future is arriving at the stroke of midnight. This is understood in relation to the previous mentions of how life can actually change in a moment, as seen by the upheaval the refugees have experienced in the twinkling of an eye. After the government workers return on the 8th January, lists are made and police are sent to evict the refugees and take those on the lists to remote villages or temporary housing far from the city where they first filed for asylum. The lists and policing echo Germany’s past when the Jews were added to lists and shipped to concentration camps, the similarities striking. Richard sees it clearly that the country will read reports and be ‘aghast and blame the objects of the transport for the expense, as used to happen in other periods of German history’.

The list full of names is important. It has taken time for Richard to get to know the men, often talking to them before he finally got their name. The final man, Karon, he only just came to first name basis with. His renaming them as characters of the classical Greek literature elevates them to mythological status. But for the Germans, they only want the names as only ‘when a name is known can there be a list like this’.

When Richard arrives at Spandau, there is an overwhelming amount of police. Rashid calls to him. On New Year’s, Peter had told him how the Incas saw the universe in two halves. Richard sees the two halves facing off here and considers if it is a ‘rift between Black and white? Rich and poor? Stranger and friend?’ ‘So a border, Richard thinks, can suddenly become visible’. The sudden appearance of the two sides is reminiscent of the overnight building of the Berlin wall. In a single action on January 8, Germany is recreating the worst of its history. The men are forcibly evicted amongst the shouting and scuffles. Some of the refugees are missing. Rufu has been in a psychiatric hospital. Rashid is visibly shaken and exhausted, a senate representative informs Richard of Rashid’s heart condition, which wasn’t operated on because he left the program to help one of the group and is at the bottom of the waiting list again. Osarobo and others are not to be seen. Richard wonders if anything can be saved from this.

Chapter 44 Quotes

January 8, lists arrive in Spandau … with the names of the first 108 men. Chapter 44

Only when a name is known can there be a list like this. Chapter 44

… this country of bookkeepers will be aghast and blame the objects of the transport for the expense, as used to happen in other periods of German history. Chapter 44

So a border, Richard thinks, can suddenly become visible. Chapter 44

And is it a rift between Black and white? Rich and poor? Stranger and friend? Chapter 44

Chapter 45

The men register for a protest but, after a disagreement, the local who had agreed to register using his German ID leaves, and Richard steps in and offers his ID. When asked what the name of the protest is, he suggests, ‘let’s make friends’. Rashid is volatile and the senate representative is worried about his heart. He leads the men in chanting ‘Change the law!’ and ‘We want to stay!’ When he is exhausted, his friends take up front position, waving their fists and chanting. They are true friends, Richard thinks, ‘a friend, a good friend, is the best thing in the world’. After the march starts, Richard joins for a few blocks and then heads home.

Chapter 45 Quotes

Let’s make friends. (Protest march slogan) Chapter 45

.. the thunderbolt hurler is so occupied with hurling his bolts he doesn’t hear: Change the Law! Chapter 45

A friend, a good friend, is the best thing in the world. Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Richard learns that the men in another facility, Friedrichshain, have climbed onto the roof in protest. The media are having a field day with the images. Rashid says they considered a protest at Spandau but didn’t because of the children and families there. Rashid falls asleep while they are talking. Richard heads home and later reads about the incidents. He reads a scathing report that suggests the protest included peeing off the building roof as ‘the first thing’ the man has done after Germany offered him a place as a refugee. Richard knows it has been three years. The paper poses a rhetorical question if anyone has ever seen these people doing any work? Richard knows they want to but are prohibited. Much like getting to know the men has given Richard a deep understanding of their plight, educating himself about the refugee situation has given him insight beyond what so many will be reading in the paper. He, like others, will read the paper sitting in the warmth and comfort of their homes and lives while many will judge the men in the snow protesting for a place to stay and a chance to work.

Chapter 46 Quotes

The practical thing about a law is that no one person made it so no one is personally responsible for it. Chapter 46

Richard, sitting at breakfast like other readers of this major German newspaper, in a warm house, toast, tea, orange juice, honey and cheese before him. Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Richard is pleased to have the reading of the paper interrupted as its falsities make him upset. The interruption is Karon telling him he has a new appointment with the authorities. When asked if he has anyone to go with him, he messages back: I have no body. The double meaning in the misspelling leads Richard to reflect on the thin line between ghosts and people: the man in the lake, the ghosts of drowned refugees joining the ghosts, the result of Germany’s wars.

A few days later, Richard and Karon discuss how property is transferred in Ghana as Karon has a photo of land for sale. Richard withdraws three thousand euros in cash and travels with Karon to the city. They enter a shop and a small bell tinkles like any other shop. A woman takes the cash and drops it through a crack in the floor. Richard thinks its lost and goes to grab it but Karon restrains him. Here Karon is a man, in control and fully understanding the procedure while Richard is a fish out of water. The fact that the cash goes underground and magically ends up in Ghana, through the illegal money transfer operation, resonates with the underground otherworldy idea that is ever-present in the novel. A man writes some numbers down and hands them to Karon. The pair wait in a café and somewhere in Ghana, Karon’s mother travels three hours and picks up the money transfer and returns to buy the property. She rings to confirm she has done this and thanks Richard over the phone. That same day, Karon gets a picture of the land title. He texts Richard the next day and, in an awkward way, expresses deep sincere thanks, the final words ‘may god protect you. always good morning’. Richard thinks ‘always good morning’ may be one of the best things you can wish a friend.

Chapter 47 Quotes

Karon writes back: I have no body. Chapter 47

The line dividing ghosts and people have always seemed thin to him … (Richard) Chapter 47

… and with outstretched arms drops it, just as it is without counting the money, into the crevice in the floor. Chapter 47

Always good morning, Richard thinks, indeed what better thing to wish a friend. Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Richard goes to Friedrichshain to see the protest of the men who have barricaded themselves on the top floor of the facility. Some of the refugees from Spandau are there and Richard sees Rufu sitting alone in the snow. He talks to him and Rufu is mumbling: ‘Tutto e finite, everything is finished’. Richard tries to console him and asks if he would like to come back to Richard’s for a meal. He accepts but when he realises the trip would be by train rather than car, he feels he is not up for it. Richard ensures he will be looked after by the others. He also notices Rufu taking pills and he suggests he stop. The next day he does feel better. Richard rings Jorg and asks about the pills. When Jorg hears they are for a refugee he makes a joke that you can just dance around them like a medicine man. This is typical of shallow humour that thinly veils harsh and dangerous racial prejudice. Jorg, as a doctor, has pledged to help humanity but as a person has chosen which section of humanity he is willing to help. Unlike Jorg, Richard finds a psychiatrist and a dentist that is willing to help and they refuse payment when Richard offers it. Their services and kindness are a small relief from the constant resistance. It turns out Rufu had a hole in his tooth that caused intense pain. When people took the time to listen and investigate, they managed to help Rufu. As often is the case, it is ‘revealed that everything depends on asking the right questions’.

Chapter 48 Quotes

Tutto e finite (everything is finished). Chapter 48

… these guys still believe in the medicine man. You dance around him in a circle a few times and he’ll be as good as new. (Jorg) Chapter 48

As so often, this examination has revealed that everything depends on asking the right questions. Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Richard is ringing and looking for Osarobo and eventually they make contact. Richard invites him over to play piano and he accepts. In the meantime, Richard is asked if he will speak at a conference on the philosopher Seneca. Usually, he and Detlef would walk with Sylvia on the frozen lake but they do not this year, perhaps dreading the idea of the man frozen below them.

Osarobo arrives and they chat and play the piano. He is going to Italy soon and Richard is regretful. He tries to teach him some songs that he could play on the roll up keyboard he gave him, that Osarobo could use busking to make money. He considers how Detlef’s son at 15 was learning the periodic table and years later is in China building bridges as an engineer. Osarobo at fifteen saw his family killed and has spent the last three years learning that ‘the world does not want him’.

Chapter 49 Quotes

The time during which a person doesn’t know how his life can become a life fills a person condemned to idleness from his head down to his toes. Chapter 49

What if the drowned man tried calling out to them from beneath the ice, and they saw him beneath their feet … but in the time it would take to fetch an axe … he would have sunk back down. Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which are all tragedies. His prose works include a dozen essays and one hundred twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues. Richard reads ‘kindly remember that he whom you call our slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives and dies’. Other writers noted similar transformations that slaves can become kings and the cycle of power and suppression is tumultuous and changing. Richard wonders if the modern politicians in such a short time of peace have forgotten this and believe they can now continually oppress people.

Richard considers the writings of Seneca and the idea of reason’s journey. Seneca’s Stoic-inspired interpretation is that travel alters our location but not our internal state. For Seneca we travel for reasons of which we are unaware, often unwittingly trying to escape our fears and issues or just following what other people do. He reflects on a discussion with tall Ithemba, who told him of a three days’ journey through the desert to get to Libya. If someone laid down exhausted, they were just left behind. If they died, they were buried in the sand and the place is remembered.

Chapter 50 Quotes

.. kindly remember that he whom you call our slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives and dies (Seneca). Chapter 50

And might reasons journey be compare to what these men have been through? Chapter 50

Could these long years of peacetime be to blame for the fact that a new generation of politicians apparently believes we’ve now arrived at the end of history, making it possible to use violence to suppress all further movement and change? Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Richard spends time with Ithemba and his lawyer who is compassionate yet eccentric. The lawyer battles to find positive solutions for refugees, Roma and Sinti. He is dressed in legal frock and enjoys quoting the Pope, the Romans and Tacitus. While Richard engages with these obscure references, Ithemba sits next to Richard, lost, as the two men communicate. The outcome is that despite a history and tradition of compassion and helpfulness, the law as it stands is set resolute against allowing refugees into Germany. The three quotes employed by the lawyer, ‘Where compassion is, and prudence is, is neither waste nor hardness of heart’ (Pope Francis), ‘Your own property is in peril when your neighbour’s house burns’ (Roman), ‘It is accounted a sin to turn any man away from your door’ (Tacitus), are a long way from the changes to the agreement the Germans have recently made to further prohibit settlement and international pressure.

Chapter 51 Quotes

Where compassion is, and prudence is, is neither waste nor hardness of heart (Pope Francis). Chapter 51

Your own property is in peril when your neighbour’s house burns. Chapter 51

It is accounted a sin to tur any man away from your door. (Tacitus) Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Richard leaves Osarobo at his house and travels to Frankfurt Am Main where he delivers his speech to the assembled academics. He spends a small amount of time there but is keen to return home. However, when he does, he finds that his house has been ransacked. Drawers are open and a window frame is bent. Some jewellery is missing and a little cash. The problem that plagues Richard for the next few days is that he wonders if Osarobo may be complicit in the crime and that he can’t make contact with Osarobo who continually makes excuses for missing their meetings. The dilemma brings Richard to tears. He can imagine the naysayers like Jorg and Monika saying ‘we told you so’ and he is torn by his own disappointment and uncertainty.

Chapter 52 Quotes

He can already see them baring their teeth like the lions in Osarobo’s profile picture: What did we tell you? (about people like Monika and Jorg) Chapter 52

Or maybe it wasn’t Osarobo after all. Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Karon comes to visit Richard and they talk about the refugees travelling by boat, his land and his family. He recounts that the ghosts of the sea sometimes take a payment and a man will go mad and jump overboard. He also tells a tale about two dolphins miraculously returning a man who had fallen from a boat. Later, that man was needed to repair the ship’s engine when it stopped. They look at a picture of Karon’s home and he tells Richard about repairing the roof. However, in his description is a metaphor for the turmoil that Richard is in at the time. He says when storms came, they had to hold the roof on with ropes and were afraid because outside ‘everything was flying around. And inside because the roof might fly off and take us with it’. This describes Richards world where, outside, the Germans are being prejudice and the law is slowly closing in on the refugees and, inside, he is in turmoil regarding the situation and if Osarobo stole his belongings.

Chapter 53 Quotes

The ghosts, Karon says, only come as far as the Italian coast. Chapter 53

Outside because everything was flying around. And inside because the roof might fly off and take us with it. Chapter 53

Chapter 54

The letters arrive and the refugee men are all ordered to leave Germany. They are distraught. Ithemba cuts his wrists and is admitted to a hospital. Rashid pours fuel on himself in Oranienplatz and tries to set himself alight. The overarching question which Erpenbeck poses and highlights by placing it alone on two consecutive pages is: ‘Where can a person go when he doesn’t know where to go?’ The men are dispersed among various church and charity groups that help as much as they can, as well as Africans who are now legally residing in Germany. Many Germans find excuses claiming, ‘Even if we help them the problem won’t be resolved’. Some cite this as such an ongoing issue they can’t see an end to the problem and are not willing to get involved. Some say there are too many Nazis in their neighbourhood and, expecting trouble, say they wouldn’t be doing any good.

Tristan, Ithemba and Rashid are granted stays of deportation due to medical and psychologic conditions. Richard, Detlef, Sylvia, and Peter and his girlfriend open their homes as does Anne, who welcomes Ali back. Several other of Richard’s colleagues open their doors or offer unused apartments. Richard opens an account for donations to help the community house the men. Language school is the only thing that remains. Gehen, ging, gegangen. Go went gone, is repeated to show the tension of a temporary person learning the language.

Rufu, Abdusalem, Yaya, Moussa, Khalil, Mohamed, Ithemba, Apollo, Karon, Zair, Tristan and Zani are living and eating at Richard’s house.

Chapter 54 Quotes

Where can a person go when he doesn’t know where to go?’ Chapter 54

Even if we help them the problem won’t be resolved. Chapter 54

Gehen, ging, gegangen (go went gone). Chapter 54

Mother oh mother, your son has made a terrible journey. I am stranded on foreign shores. Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Rashid is invited with others to the home to celebrate Richard’s birthday. Although Osarobo has texted him he seems to be absent from the invitations. The gathering is a joyous occasion with friends and refugees mingling, some drinking and singing. As the night continues, a moment of reflection occurs after the group have a photo. Detlaf’s wife, Sylvia, is not at the party as she has grown more unwell. The men are united in their reflection on how they miss a female counterpart. The refugees share that they are often left by German girls because of family or because they suspect they are looking for a visa. They would prefer to keep their dignity and do things in the proper order. Rashid explains that in many countries, mothers pick wives and so the men are at a loss. Richard reflects on his own failures in the realm of women. His unfaithfulness to his wife and his pressure on his lover to have an abortion. He thinks the things he has gone through and the things he can endure are only like the surface of a sea filled with things he couldn’t possibly endure. Perhaps he thinks of the many things the refugees have seen and experienced.

Chapter 55 Quotes

Rashid says he wished he could cut off his memory. Chapter 55

All of them think for a moment about women they have loved, who once loved them. Chapter 55

For the refugees, preserving their dignity is an arduous task. Chapter 55

… the things I can endure are only just the surface of what I can’t possibly endure. Chapter 55