Book Review: Adas Raum by Sharon Dodua Otoo

 

My sudden interest in reading more and more books in German this year was a rewarding experience. It may be my enthusiasm of discovering so many authors, young women authors to be more specifically, but I am tempted also to say that the last years - five or so - marked an important moment in the development of a new literary trend. More about this in a different post, maybe, as I do have many more interesting German books on my TBR.

My latest experience, Adas Raum by Sharon Dodua Otoo is exquisite especially in terms of story construction. Think about, for instance, about small delicate beads coming up together in the most ingenious ways. A story made up of small stories, united through objects and details that one should be very careful to seize. Forget about inter-textuality. Adas Raum is focused on covering different angles and fragments of stories coming together for the sake of the story, and not as a demonstration of technical virtuosity. 

The women characters of the book, all called Ada, do come and sometimes go from different parts of the world and centuries: 15th century Ghana, UK (Ada Lovelace, for instance), KZ Buchenwald in Germany, Berlin/London/Accra. They are connected although individual in their complex life experience shared. Connected as women, as belonging to certain timeframes, as mothers. One should not be apologetic for pledging an important cause, as anything connected to identity politics. One needs to offer examples and content to such politics and storytelling is the more natural way to do it. Here resides the extraordinary strength of Adas Raum, in the inspiration offered through simple stories. 

I was fascinated while reading the first half of the story, hungry to discover not only the connections but the next installments of the story. The second part, which is more settled in the contemporary times and do make perfect sense within the rest of the story, has a lower intensity both in terms of construction and of ideas. It gives more space for thinking and enjoying the flow of the story as it comes.

Adas Raum is an essential contribution to the discussion in the German language and the German-speaking realm in general about the intersection between being a woman, different and Black, through the specific historical interactions. It is a serious conversation, pondering the details of the dialogue while offering substantial elements for understanding and further discussing the contextuality. 

The discussion about race and women of color is surprisingly young in Germany and the German-speaking space in general. Books like Adas Raum are forcing the public discourse not only to acknowledge the existence of such topics but offers at the same time the content for the public conversation,

Rating: 4 stars