The Appointment is probably one of the most moving books I have read in the last 5 years, and I log a few books a week... Haunting in its themes of dictatorship, violence, and the fear of death inspired by both and in its well-crafted prose. Müller's anonymous feminine narrator lives in a totalitarian reality called Romania. Her voice calls attention to the beauty around her and her struggle to stay sane. What makes this novel even more powerful is the time-frame and its setting: a morning tram-ride to the dreaded appointment with an official-state bully named Albu. On the tram-ride, our nameless narrator's mind revisits her memories of Paul, friends, ex-lovers, and family members many of whom are dead. Some every-day objects become things of beauty in this world of fear, and other ojects make gestures of comfort and kindness possible.
If I had little patience for petty complaints and self-pity before reading this book, I think that patience has diminished. If humanity would read more, we might just exercise a little more lip-flapping restraint if we knew how hard some people really have it.
Really well-written--unlike those popular best-sellers by EL James and Stephenie Meyer--and stunningly translated.
Read it.
