The prose made me want to love this book. Erpenbeck is masterful and I feel I learned a lot about writing from this book. Further, the metaphor surrounding the book—an abusive and intrusive relationship as compared to East Berlin right before the Wall’s fall—is powerful but at times heavy handed. I think the metaphor slips sometimes into the uncomfortably ridiculous and sadistic, but perhaps that’s part of the point here. Like others, I can’t say I loved this book but it has given me much to consider and I think I’ll think about it for some time.