A nameless protagonist works at The Scheme. All day he drives an UniVan from one depot to another. What is in the UniVans? Spare parts for the UniVans. So in the complete economical scale of things, this scheme doesn’t really contribute, but it aims to be the solution for full employment. With very strict rules everybody that works there is happy. But what happens when the workers start to doubt each others workmanship?
Stefan Vogel lives in East Berlin, behind the Iron Curtain. His father has connections with the West, the big America and his mother always wanted to give the impression that they were privileged. The father would bring back gifts and Stefan would treasure them. Stefan saw the possibilities the West offered and wanted to go. Even when that entailed selling his soul to some people with power.
James Lasdun has written a intruiging story about the youth in former East Berlin. What their dreams and what their possibilities were. How they survived the communistic society they lived in.
