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The narrator arrives in Berlin, a place famed for its hedonism, to find peace and maybe love; only to discover that the problems which have long haunted him have arrived there too, and are more present than ever. As he approaches his fortieth birthday, nearing the age where his father was killed in a brutal revolution, he drifts through this endlessly addictive and sometimes mystical city, through its slow days and bottomless nights, wondering whether he will ever escape the damage left by his father’s death. With the world as a whole more uncertain, as both the far-right and global temperatures rise at frightening speed, he finds himself fighting a fierce inner battle against his turbulent past, for a future free of his fear of failure, of persecution, and of intimacy. In The End, It Was All About Love is a journey of loss and self-acceptance that takes its nameless narrator all the way through bustling Berlin to his roots, a quiet village on the Uganda-Sudan border. It is a bracingly honest story of love, sexuality and spirituality, of racism, dating, and alienation; of fleeing the greatest possible pain, and of the hopeful road home.
Reviews with the most likes.
Righteous Migrants: The poetic mythologizing is punctuatedly endearing while also infrequently connecting. My decade aligned most with “Today, Berlin Punches You In The Stomach” although the acts of racist aggression weren't its most disturbing facet. Berlin is a self-righteous busybody gleeful to run you over to teach you not to jaywalk.
So many beautiful moments. Full of vulnerability. I also really enjoyed the short essay format. It made it easy to pick up and put down and I came to look forward to my little snippets of reading at the end of long, monotonous pandemic days. I just moved to Berlin, so this book had added appeal for me–a reminder that I have chosen to live in a complex and remarkable city.