Katharina

Katharina is the main character of the novel. At the novel’s start, Katharina learns that her former lover Hans has died. Shortly thereafter, she receives “two large cardboard boxes” filled with his mementos from the era during which they were together (6). When she begins to excavate the boxes at the end of the prologue, the narrative shifts away from the narrative present and into scenes from Katharina’s past life. “Box I” marks the start of Katharina’s excavations and reorients the reader to July of 1986, the summer Katharina was 19.

Katharina meets Hans on the 57 bus in East Berlin. Although he is 34 years older than Katharina, she rapidly becomes attached to him. Her friends and family question the nature of their relationship, but Katharina feels that her life and identity prior to Hans are nonexistent. Hans therefore has become the defining force in her life.

Throughout the...