In a Nutshell:

This book tells the story of Richard, a widow and a recently retired university professor. He lives in Berlin and one day, on his way home, he finds a new community on Oranienplatz- among the African asylum seekers who have set up a tent city there. Richard is hesitant at first but as he gets to know the group. He finds his life changing and he begins to question his own sense of identity, belonging and what does exile and “desexilio” mean.

An Observation: 

This was one of the very books I read for my book project. Whilst living in Tanzania, I was towards the end of this book, when I popped into my local hairdresser for a hair cut in Dar, where we lived. I had my hair cut by a new hairdresser called R. I was feeling quite introspective and really reflecting on my response to Go, Went, Gone. However, the hairdresser was quite chatty and asked me where I was from. I responded and asked him in turn where he was from, “Syria,” he said, “I much prefer life here in Tanzania, compared to my country.” I then asked, absent-mindedly and clearly I wasn’t thinking, ” do you get to go back to your own country often?” R looked sad and said,” no, of course not, I will never return to my country.” This led me to think of the book again, and how it is all a lottery, where we are born, the country we are from and how are we to know how we would react if a country destroyed our country and we had to flee. Human empathy is needed more than ever in the times we live in, this is a topic that is constantly reflected in Go, Went, Gone. 

Themes:  love, loss, identity, refugees, war, immigration and emigration. A Quote:

“What does ‘freedom of movement’ mean if not the right to travel?” “So a border, Richard thinks, can suddenly become visible, it can suddenly appear where a border never used to be: battles fought in recent years on the borders of Libya, or of Morocco or Niger, are now taking place in the center of Berlin-Spandau.”

Book Details:

Publisher: Granta Books Ltd Publishing Date: 02.08.2018 Author: Jenny Erpenbeck

Jenny Erpenbeck was born in East Berlin in 1967. She won the Independent foreign fiction prize in 2015. Her work has been translated into English. Her latest novel Kairos came out earlier this year. Erpenbeck lives in Berlin. Translator: Susan Bernofsky

Susan Bernofsky, was born in 1966. She is a translator of German-language literature and an author. She is best known for translating many of the Swiss writer Robert Walser’s books and writing his biography. She has also translated several books by Jenny Erpenbeck and Yoko Tawada.  In 2017 she won the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation for her translation of Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada. In 2018 she was awarded the MLA’s Lois Roth Award for her translation of Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck. She teaches at Columbia University. A bit about me!

A bit about me, my name is Jess Andoh-Thayre. I am from Brixton, South London. I currently live in Cambodia. Before living here in Cambodia, I lived in Tanzania with my husband, who is a diplomat. I have also lived in Chile and Spain. I am a French, Spanish and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher. I recently qualified as a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator). After taking three years off to have a baby in a pandemic and also retrain, I have just returned to work as an Elementary Learning Support Teacher.