The End Of Days | Jenny Erpenbeck

The End Of Days is an intricate and haunting meditation on fate, identity and the interwoven threads of history that shape our lives. Erpenbeck has created a book structured around a series of alternative realities for the unnamed protagonist. The story shifts seamlessly and chronologically from the personal to the political, from World War I, the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire, through to Nazi Germany and the Cold War. Each chapter ends with the death of the main character and the new chapter begins with her in a different timeline, based on her making different decisions in the previous chapter/timeline.

These resets can be disorienting at first, but the deeper into the novel you get, the easier they become to navigate. this jarring nature of different timelines feels deliberate These were jarring political times, where global events were changing quickly and affecting everyone.

The question Erpenbeck seems to be asking is how much of our lives are determined by choice and how much by circumstance? Does history have the possibility to answer this question? The lack of answers linger long after the last page has been turned. 

This is not a light read. In fact, it's one of the saddest books I've read in a very long time, but is is deeply rewarding and beautifully poetic. I preferred this to Erpenbeck's Book Prize winning, Kairos, and would recommend this book to anyone interested in literary and historical fiction and who likes books that challenge conventions. Be prepared to have your heart devastated, though.