Johannes Lichtman

The world has learned a lot about Ukrainians following Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of their country in 2022. Their response has shown them to be a proud, strong, and resilient people. The word Ukraine means “borderland”, and its strategic location between powerful countries has indeed led to repeated invasions. When foreigners praise their land, Ukrainians respond ironically. “You should meet the neighbors.” As this joke implies, Ukrainians also have a good sense of humor. After all, they elected a comedian as their leader, and he turned out to be anything but a joke.

Lichtman sets his novel not in the tumultuous Ukraine of 2022 but in the more sedate year of 2018. This was a heady time because the country had recently staged a successful revolution that resulted in the expulsion of their corrupt president. Lichtman’s nuanced characterizations shrewdly capture some Ukrainian traits that only became more evident in 2022. They have a powerful work ethic, pride in their country, and are willing cooperators.

The protagonist/narrator is John Turner, a 30-year-old failed journalist whose former college roommate talks him into taking a job managing a call center in Lutsk. John’s father has recently passed away and his romantic life is on the skids. So, he sees the job offer as a chance for adventure, a break from his romantic entanglement and an opportunity to gather material that may revive is journalism career.

Unfortunately, John knows nothing about Ukraine—its language and culture—or managing people. Thus, he is comically ill equipped for this job. He simplistically diagnoses the center’s problem as language. Its five employees are great with a stilted form of English, but they fail miserably at imitating American small talk on the phone. Lichtman shrewdly uses John’s attitude toward his employees as one example of American ugliness. Despite being goodhearted, he can be brash and condescending. Notwithstanding his flaws, John is sensitive to other cross-cultural shortcomings of Americans. He tends to downplay his wealth relative to the typical Ukrainian. Also, he decides to remain celibate during his stay as a response to the unappealing image of all the American men traveling to Ukraine to hook up with beautiful women. Likewise, he shuns an American Peace Corp volunteer because she talks too loud in public. We are hopeful that American support for the Ukrainian cause may have temporarily put some of these stereotypes to rest.

John’s journey turns dark when he overhears a clear case of severe spousal abuse coming from an adjoining flat. He is shocked to discover that the victim is Natalia, an attractive woman who works at the call center. After discovering that Ukrainian police tend to ignore this type of behavior, John decides to take matters into his own hands with disastrous consequences. Lichtman reveals this misadventure with a delicious use of foreshadowing, plot twists and cultural irony that can only be fully appreciated by reading the novel.

Lichtman treats his clueless, well-meaning expat narrator with a light and satirical touch. Regrettably, most of the call center’s employees are stereotypes. However, two chapters, not narrated by John, give a more nuanced view of Ukrainians. Anatoly, Natalia’s abusive husband, also is a failed journalist. He struggles with chronic back pain and low self-esteem while working as a water delivery man. Natalia shows remarkable courage with her marital problems and by urging John to return to America without her. One can only speculate whether her decision was wise considering subsequent events in Ukraine.

Using healthy doses of dark humor and irony, Lichtman explores the pivotal role that language plays in identity and culture in this intriguing novel.… (más)

The subject of this book is how to be a person in the complex and shifting world we live in. It starts off slow, but once it gets going I couldn't put it down- not because the plot is so engrossing but because I really came to care about the protagonist, whose issues came into focus once he started caring about others and recognizing his own powerlessness in the face of the overwhelming. I think the point is about pushing on and doing your best regardless, even when your best doesn't make the difference you hope it might. Because you never know the difference you might make, you have to try, recognizing we're all lost and confused and need each other in the end. I started the book feeling like it was indulgent and trite and ended up being really moved.… (más)

After losing his teaching job at a college because of his very peculiar assignments, Jonas Anderson moves to Sweden to change perspective and to have a fresh start. Even though he is some years older than the students there, he socialises with them easily and leads the life he had in his early 20s. After the break-up with his German girlfriend, he moves from Lund to Malmö, the town where 2015 masses of immigrants from the Middle East arrived. Seeing the hottest political topic in front of his own door, Jonas decides to get active and to volunteer in the work with the migrants, too. He soon realises that all that is meant to be supportive and good, doesn’t necessarily turn out to be such a good idea in the end.

Johannes Lichtman’s novel isn’t easy to sum up or to describe since his protagonist goes through tremendous changes throughout the novel which also affect the plot and the tone a lot. I really enjoyed the first part a lot when we meet Jonas trying to be a creative writing teacher. The tone here is refreshing and the character’s naiveté makes him sympathetic and likeable. With moving to Sweden and becoming a stranger and outsider, his role changes, yet, he still needs more time until he actually grows up and does something meaningful with his life.

The last part, his work with the unaccompanied minors, was for me personally the most interesting because I could empathise with him easily. Having myself worked with those youths when they came to Germany in 2015 and 2016, I went through the same emotions that Jonas went through. And I had to do exactly the same learning process: you want to help and you have good ideas, but actually they sometimes go past the needs of the refugees. The struggle between the news where all the immigrants were treated as a homogeneous mass and where the focus was put on the danger that came with them, and the everyday experiences with real people made it often hard to cope with the situation. In this respect, Lichtman did a great job because he depicted reality as it was back then.

All in all, a novel that addresses so many different topics with a lively and highly likeable style of writing, a great read not to be missed.… (más)