Westend by Annemarie Weber

If I would not be able to read and understand German, as a passionate reader, I would have missed the trove of literature written in German. Although after so many years I feel sometimes that this language is always a work in progress, growing in complexity by the day, I feel so blessed to be able to have access to fantastic resources that go beyond literary significance.

Especially for the post-war years, shortly after or few decades after the WWII, without a good knowledge of the language, there will not be too many sources of information besides A Woman in Berlin which was my first book - read in English at the time - I ever read about life during the Soviet occupation.

Hence, my interest in Westend, a novel by nonconformist West German author Annemarie Weber, published in 1966. Set in the immediate post-war years, it features Elsa Lewinsky, a 27 years old German woman. Her fiancé, to whom she writes diary-like entries, even after the most traumatic experiences of being confronted with the Soviet soldiers, is most likely prisoner of war in France. After her part of Berlin, Westend, near the current area of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is assigned to the British dominion, 

Weber herself used to work for the British occupation as translator and there may be other biographical details of the author´s matching Elsa´s. 

If one may expect extensive emotional reports about hardship life during various post-war occupations, but in fact we can watch through Elsa´s eyes a matter-of-factly account of a succession of facts built around survival at any price. There is not too much resentment, but also not too much self-reflection. The attempts she does at a larger picture is only through the letters to her fiancé. You can feel the emptiness of the post-war, spaces being filled only by the move towards survival.

The writing is clear, enfolding by itself, with dialogues completed by random reflections creating an intellectual frame for the story. 

I´ve read the book in the original German language but I wish there is an English translation available as well, for anyone interested in post-war German women authors.

Rating: 4 stars

Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

The career of Shoji Morimoto as a ´Rental person who does nothing´ started via messages via Twitter/now-X: people asking him to remind them to cut their nails preparing for sex later in the day, a company during a meal, someone to listen to them. Featured in the Japanese and international media, his experience matches the longing for human vicinity I personally often experience during my travels and year of work spent in Japan.

The book accounting for his interactions is too pretentious to be called ´a memoir´ as it is rather a collection of extended experiences based on his interactions during his various and diverse assignments. Not a basically paid service, but happily accepting payments, Morimoto is driven by curiosity but also by the very human inclination to share company and empathy.

As a chameleon, he adapts to the most direct or unheard of requests, but there is an existential layer to his ´business´: he is filling the immediate reality, he is here and there, one he is needed, without exceeding his mandate - which is to be present. He is not giving opinions, not judging, just taking the tasks and live in the moment.

A person without features, Shoji Morimoto showed in Rental Person Who Does Nothing some ways to reverse loneliness, as well as how important human contact will always remain. A recommended book to anyone trying to better fathom the Japanese mentality but also the human needs in general.

Rating: 3 stars