"I’m not that keen on contrafactual books. Erpenbeck’s novel is something different, though. By letting people die and then come to life again in the next chapter, she tells an epic family story covering an essential part of Europe’s 20th century."

"The novel that I reread the most. Melinda and I love one line so much that we had it painted on a wall in our house: “His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.”

"Maybe the greatest novel ever written, but I haven’t read them all! It’s all of humankind head-on by Dostoevsky. A mix of sadism and humor. In Poland I shot a movie by Andrzej Wajda based on this great book."

"It begins, “He, for their could be no doubt about his sex…” and then we spend the rest of this gorgeous rollicking novel entirely in doubt about his sex. A love-letter to language, a time traveling duel with duality."