The Visitor

The Visitor is introduced in the prologue. She is a 56-year-old Cuban-American woman who has recently arrived in Berlin with no clear purpose or direction in her life. The author notes that she has no relationship with her mother, she is divorced, and her adult daughter lives in Spain. The Visitor is gripped by loneliness and existential ennui, so she begins walking through Berlin and talking to strangers in parks, cafes, nursing homes, the zoo, and wherever else she happens to run into someone. Most of the people she speaks to have a story to tell about World War II. She also visits cemeteries, museums, and the concentration camp Sachsenhausen to reflect on the dead. She frequently expresses uncertainty about why exactly she is talking to the people of Berlin, for what purpose she is collecting their stories. All she knows for sure is that she feels...