Leben

The call comes shortly after two. A young man, terminally ill, answers the phone and hears the longed-for and dreaded words: "We have a donor organ for you." Should he dare to go through with it so he can continue to be there for his child? He grabs his bag and has himself driven to the Virchow Clinic in Berlin. Long days and nights in the hospital follow, alongside changing roommates. There’s a beverage dealer with a secret lover or a Lebanese butcher who lost both brothers in the war. As he listens, he becomes aware for the first time that he too has a life behind him. For whom has he lived? For whom is it worth continuing to live? And which person has died so that he can continue to live—possibly as someone different than before? Winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2013.