The Weekend Book

"How can you argue with all your common sense and ask yourself if the world, through murder, becomes a better world? "
Difficult question, isn't it?
Well, for a weekend, Jorg's sister, lawyer, old friends gather around him, a terrorist from the German Red Army Fraction pardoned after more than 20 years in prison.
The debate, wonder, get angry, cry, sneer, scorn, reflect, sympathize, fall in love ...
Full of good intentions, of a sense of duty, of lies and truths, of embarrassment, they manifest their dismay, as would be ours, I suppose, in front of a friend who had become a terrorist and murderer. Has this friend changed? Has he repented? Does he continue to profess his convictions? How to position oneself about him, when this friend himself is helpless and lacks perspective in the face of everything and front of himself?
This novel is short, but every sentence counts. Each sentence questions the protagonists, but also questions us, surely on terrorism, but also all the small terrorist acts of everyday life. The characters are human, weak and strong.
Nature is omnipresent and offers its refuge, one would think oneself in full period of Romanticism from this point of view: an old mansion, a vast meadow, a dark forest, a stream, a bench.
In this idyllic setting, people intermingle, collide, collide. Some people discover affinities; others are disappointed. Their personal past comes to the surface, and it is full of life that they present themselves to Jorg, who has a lifetime to win back and to us… or not.
If you want to spend a weekend in the German countryside, but not a stay of plenitude and peace, rather two days of questioning about commitment, responsibility, guilt, and awareness of oneself, I recommend this novel by Bernhard Schlink.
Have a nice weekend!