Go, Went, Gone - General (No Spoilers) (Nov 2018)

[Carol]

This is the general/background thread for our discussion of Jenny Erpenbeck's 2015 novel, Go, Went, Gone.













and, yes, I declare that the US cover is by far the least interesting of a collection of fascinating, diverse artwork used for the various covers of Erpenbeck's novel.

This is the place to share general comments about the novel, any thoughts, questions or comments you have about it, Erpenbeck's body of work, novels about displacement, etc. Note: please don't share spoilers in this thread.

I'll post a couple of comments tomorrow here with reviews and background info. One of the best discussions of which I've been a part in my time as a GoodReads member was the discussion we had here a couple of years ago pertaining to Visitation, which remains a favorite of mine.

Who is joining us for this discussion?

For those who have started, what are your thoughts so far? Have any of you read anything else by Erpenbeck? if, yes, do you consider yourself a fan, a detractor, or neutral?

[Laurie]

I plan to start reading tomorrow. I have been meaning to read this for a while so I really look forward to it.

[Carol]

Laurie wrote: "I plan to start reading tomorrow. I have been meaning to read this for a while so I really look forward to it."

Me, too, Laurie. I may not make a big dent until the weekend, but I'm looking forward to reading it and being challenged by others' discussion comments.

[LindaJ^]

I read the book when it was a nominee for the Man Booker International award earlier this year. I really liked it, as I did Visitation and The End of Days. She is now on my favorite authors list. I do not intend to reread but will comment when appropriate.

[Carol]

LindaJ^ wrote: "I read the book when it was a nominee for the Man Booker International award earlier this year. I really liked it, as I did Visitation and The End of Days. She is now on my favorite authors list. I..."

Good to hear, Linda.

[Aga]

Hello everyone, I haven’t commented before but hope you don’t mind my joining the discussion this time. It is my first book by Erpenbeck and I haven’t finished it yet but based on what I have read I will definitely read more of her books. This book for me is written in a ‘quiet’ way about the loud matter. I am really enjoying it so far.

[Hugh]

This will be my fourth or fifth Erpenbeck (four books, five works). We discussed The End of Days here a couple of years ago, and I liked that enough to read Visitation shortly afterwards. I have also read The Old Child and The Book of Words, which are both early novellas. I have a copy of Go, Went, Gone, and will probably start it some time next week.

[Hugh]

A few reviews (these may contain spoilers):

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/bo...
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/j...
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...

[Kristina]

I'll also start reading today or tomorrow. This is also my first book of Erpenbeck and I am looking forward reading it since the topic of the book itself is very interesting to me. But I must say I am a bit sceptical, because from the description of the book it seems that it also tackles topics like the division in of Germany and I think that this issue has been written so much about in German literature that it cannot bring anything new.

[Elaine]

I plan on reading it too and have a copy. I'll start this weekend and look forward to discussions. This looks like a fascinating novel -- such a timely subject!

[Carol]

Aga wrote: "Hello everyone, I haven’t commented before but hope you don’t mind my joining the discussion this time. It is my first book by Erpenbeck and I haven’t finished it yet but based on what I have read ..."

Welcome and I’m glad you chose to comment and join this discussion. I had the same experience of “quiet” with Visitation, notwithstanding the violence and loss in the story. I’m glad to know she’s brought that same gift to bear here.

[Beverly]

I will be joining the discussion of Go, Went, Gone.

I was first introduced to Jenny Erpenbeck by this group for the reading of Visitation and knew I would be more work by the author.

Go, Went, Gone has been sitting on my shelf unread for a little too long so glad this book was chosen for the discussion.

[Carol]

From this review in World Literature Today, I learned the origin of the title, among other things.

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...

"'Go, Went, Gone' alludes through its title’s conjugations to the one activity that the German government sponsors for the refugees: language classes. …"

[Cactus]

I have not read any Erpenbeck before, but, having just finished the first part of this book, am blown away by the author’s mastery of her craft. As the author has Richard observe, “Language is never a coincidence, as he always tried to make his students understand” (Ch. 21).

[Maddie]

I saved this book to read in November because of this discussion. I've only just started (I've read two chapters so far) but the writing feels very stiff and strange. Don't know if it's the author's own style or the translation but it's making it somewhat hard to penetrate the story. Hopefully I will get used to it, though!

[Kristina]

Maddie, It also took me a while to get used to the writing style, but the more I read the more I am enjoying it.

[Lia]

I suspect the writing style also reflects the protagonist’s state of being — he started out in a kind of apathetic bubble mechanically? Cynically? Trying to maintain a facade of fine balance. I think it gets much easier to engage later on because the protagonist himself also went through some kind of humanizing transformation.

Which reminds of Camus. He can and does write really fancy complex prose, but if he’s writing about a flat character who is not quite fully human (Mersault, for example), his prose is also completely flat, distant, off-putting.

[Maddie]

Thank you Kristina and Lia-
I've now read some more chapters and the first impression was just that, a first impression, and I'm glad to say I actually got into the flow of things pretty well.

There's still something interesting about the narration, though. It feels like it's written in first-person pov with all the introspection and inner thoughts and I'm sometimes caught off guard when the narrator mentions "Michael", as in, the main character. I wonder if there's any reason Erpenbeck decided to go third-person pov? Maybe to better illustrate the detatchment Michael, at least until chapter 10 (where I'm at, right now) feels towards the events described in the book? He is indeed described as "[not] part of a group, his interest is his own, it belongs only to him and he is completely dispassionate." (chapter 7)

I have not yet read any Camus (shameful, I know, but me and modern classics have a bit of a complicated relationship) so I can't comment on the comparison but it makes sense that the narrator adopts a tone that fits the character and its mood/personality.