Human Connection

The central theme of the novel is human connection and the author makes the argument, through the figure of Raif Efendi, that without human connection life is meaningless. Raif spends the early years of his life isolated from others and connecting to works of art in preference to other human beings. Once in Berlin, Raif continues to isolate himself from the people around him, at first using the language barrier as an excuse for not connecting with the other residents in the guesthouse.

Once Raif’s German improves, however, his attempts to connect with others do not correspondingly improve. Instead, Raif retreats from the contacts he has made in the German soap industry and spends all of his time reading and visiting galleries and museums. It is in an art gallery that Raif first gets a glimpse of what he is missing out on in...