Why a Booktrail?
1989: Three people are drawn together in a small Baltic city
The Others
What you need to know before your trail
Three young people from vastly different backgrounds – Armando from Mozambique, Lolita from India and East German national Theo – are drawn together in a small Baltic city in 1989, just as the DDR begins to collapse around them. While a quiet revolution sweeps through Eastern Europe, they find themselves in a poignant love triangle, as their lives intertwine and collide with each other in a messy, beautiful ways.
Travel Guide
Rostock
The Baltic City in East Germany which inspired the novel
Rostock is a city straddling the Warnow River on the north coast of Germany.
The Bezirk Rostock, the northernmost of DDR, was situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea, in front of the Danish coasts. It bordered with the Bezirke of Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. It bordered also with Poland and West Germany
Booktrailer Review
This is a very brave and ambitious novel that also manages to be a personal and close look at people’s lives during a tumultuous time in a changing country and world.
In the former GDR/DDR, Lolita and Armando are both immigrants just trying to survive in East Germany. Then there’s Theo, who is East German but whose life is affected by the political situation in his homeland.
Everyone suffers and is affected in different ways and this novel shows you that through almost a triptech mirror. The same mirror, the same situation but three very different angles. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a monumental moment – but it was both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ depending on how you look at it.
This book made me think of things I hadn’t considered before and I feel humbled having stood in three very different pairs of shoes. A triumph of a novel in so many ways! Highly recommended!
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Others
Destination/location: Rostock Author/guide: Sheena Kalayil Departure Time:1989
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