Room for Doubt (Vintage)

This book is an absolute must if you have ever been a foreigner in Berlin, had difficulty finishing a book, or have a difficult person in your life with whom you have an unfathomable friendship. Having spent periods of time in Berlin, I was transported back to the S-Bahn Station platform as Lesser described the experience of waiting (if only ever briefly) for those trains. And she captures so...more

This book is an absolute must if you have ever been a foreigner in Berlin, had difficulty finishing a book, or have a difficult person in your life with whom you have an unfathomable friendship. Having spent periods of time in Berlin, I was transported back to the S-Bahn Station platform as Lesser described the experience of waiting (if only ever briefly) for those trains. And she captures so perfectly, without fuss, the spirit of this cultured, but somehow isolated, embracing but unspectacular city. It's a special place for those who have spent time there either before or after 1989, and rarely have I seen the minutae of its uniqueness articulated with such laser like accuracy. Even if you haven't lived through one or other of the three situations that make up the three essays of this book - a stranger in Berlin, an unfinished book on a Scottish philosopher, the death of a difficult friend, there is plenty to engage as Lesser digresses in and out of the thoughts, experiences and mem If you have ever   hide