After retrieving his sister’s body from Berlin, an unnamed American expat grapples with feelings of love, loss and guilt as he sifts through the pieces of his life while sitting in the Munich airport waiting to fly home.
Written in a stream of consciousness style, with no chapter breaks, the narrative weaves in and out of the man’s every thought. As he sits in the airport with his aging father, he thinks back on different events in his life in an attempt to make sense of the present. These events are interwoven with the struggle of being stuck in an airport and the grief of losing a loved one.
While the narrative style is impressively fluid, repeatedly taking readers seamlessly from the present to the past and back again, it is continuously bogged down by an excess of description.
I commend any writer who attempts to emulate the process of thought on the page, but it can be frustrating when it distracts from the point of the story.
Poignant
Every moment of the man’s time in the airport is meticulously written, including irrelevant details such as his meals and trips to the toilet. Despite these drawbacks, there is a definite pull to see the story through to the end to discover what conclusions the man comes to about his life.
Unfortunately, the ending leaves more questions than answers, perhaps that is the point, but after reading the man’s unending stream of thoughts for over 200 pages a clearer conclusion would have been welcome.
This is definitely not an uplifting read – after all is being stuck in an airport ever a positive experience? – but if you allow yourself to be swept up in the narrative stream prepare to become emotionally engaged.
Overall the novel is a quick and poignant read if you are able to become absorbed in the narration, but if not you will find it tediously heavy.