It's been a while since a novel has consistently made me smile. “What You Can See From Here” has a wonderful lightness of touch to it while also being an emotional story which considers larger philosophical issues about the human condition. It follows Luisa who, at the start of the novel, is an adolescent girl and we follow her into adulthood. Moreover, it's the tale of the small West-German village Luisa has grown up in and the idiosyncratic members of this community as seen through her perspective. Luisa's grandmother Selma occasionally dreams of an okapi, an exotic African animal that's like a squashed-together version of several different animals. Whenever this creature features in her dreams someone in the area dies. So it's turned into an omen of death. At the beginning of the novel Selma has dreamed about an okapi again. Though they realise it's superstitious to believe a dream can signal such a tragedy, everyone in the village can't help fearing it and tensely wondering who will be next. Rumours of the dream spread like wildfire around the community leading everyone to take excessive precautions or prepare to meet their end. When someone eventually does die it has a devastating effect on Luisa and we follow her many years later as she and the village are still dealing with this tragic loss.
Much of the delightful humour in this novel comes from the naturally amusing characters that populate it. Selma is a loving grandmother living in a slanted house. The local optician is secretly in love with Selma and begins many letters to her informing her of this but can't quite bring himself to complete or deliver them. Luisa's friend Martin dreams of being a champion weight-lifter and frequently picks Luisa up. Villagers flock to Luisa's eccentric great-aunt Elsbeth who makes homemade remedies for ailments or conditions. Luisa's mother is perpetually late for any crucial event and her father is constantly absent as he's travelling the world. Marlies is a grumpy woman who lives in the most remote corner of the village like a melancholy Eeyore. Even the family dog Alaska comes bounding in and out of scenes knocking things over and making its presence known. The way in which all these disparate individuals with all their foibles and peculiarities come together is handled in an endearing and loving way.
Another reason why this novel is so funny is from the clever and engaging way it portrays the absurdity of life. Though we may have grand ideals or try to follow the path of logic, we can't control our instinctive reactions to what we encounter. So the villagers allow themselves to grow fearful when Selma has her dream of an okapi though they know it's not rational. It's natural for our emotions to occasionally consume us and the novel shows how this especially occurs when it comes to love and death. In her adulthood Luisa has a chance encounter with a Buddhist monk named Frederik and develops a strong bond with him. Though it may seem like a very random thing to insert into the story, it makes sense how the principles of Buddhism are contrasted against human nature. Various concepts concerning the perception and natural of reality are raised between the characters – though Frederik is more concerned with eating French fries than he is with discussing Buddhist texts. The story isn't mocking the religion but showing how challenging it is to free oneself from disruptive desires and an attachment to a limited, subjective understanding of the world. Whether a person is a Buddhist or not, these are large issues we all grapple with in one form or another. The novel poignantly demonstrates how these aspects of our nature are the very things which make us so beautifully human and join us together as a society.
