There is a subject on the list of the oral topics to be prepared for the B1 Goethe Institut test of German knowledge requiring the participants to explain how does it feel to live ´between cultures´. The subject of German perception of life while belonging to one or more cultures requires more than a blog post but nevertheless I am more happy when I read novels inspired by this topic. The feeling and questions are real, but are better said in the literary format.
Kabul-born Mariam T. Azimi moved to Germany when she was six years old. Her book Tanz zwischen Zwei Welten - Dancing between two worlds, in my own translation - is a well elaborated story of Wana, who also moved to Germany with her family from Afghanistan at the beginning of the war, trying to find out her own voice and relationship with her culture and in the end, with herself.
Told at the third person, it is a story who flows beautifully because before proving a point, it cares for the literary qualities of the story. Thus, it created characters, with their inner contradictions and intentions, as well as inner changes. Wana´s voice itself changes, and I appreciated how her 6yo voice is corresponding to this age range.
As the main character of the story is Wana, there may be less development in the case of the others. Personally, I would have been curious to find out more about her mother and father history, whose details are more vague that I expected.
Towards the end of the novel, Wana is asking herself what would she have been if she have stayed in Kabul. It´s such a simple and heartwarming question anyone who left his or her comfort zone at least once considered.
There are not too many women of Afghan origins highly profiled in Germany, and this book is an important reminder of this cultural heritage. I loved very much the tone of the novel as well as the topic, and I can only wait for more writing by Mariam T. Azimi.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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