Politics--real, fictional, literal, and metaphorical--are in the air this September. Whether it's the 2016 presidential election, the European refugee crisis, or the politics of race, class, faith, and identity, September's top authors are digging into the intricate, thorny questions of what it means to be a citizen of the world.
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
This new translation of the German bestseller examines the European refugee crisis through the lens of Richard, a newly-retired classics professor who finds himself fighting to help Middle Eastern and African refugees gain asylum in his native Berlin. The prose, translated by Susan Bernofsky, brings heart and urgency to Richard’s trek through the labyrinthine structures of humanitarian and political bureaucracy, as well as his attempts to find his own place within the vast cultural divide between his fellow Germans and the people he’s trying to help.
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, $13, amazon.com on September 26.
