Sometimes I had the feeling that all of us in his family were like pets to him. The dog you take for a walk, the cat you play with and that curls up in your lap, purring, to be stroked – you can be fond of them, you can even need them to a certain extent, and nonetheless the whole thing – buying pet food, cleaning up the cat box, and trips to the vet – is really too much. Your life is elsewhere.

“Sometimes I had the feeling that all of us in his family were like pets to him. The dog you take for a walk, the cat you play with and that curls up in your lap, purring, to be stroked – you can be fond of them, you can even need them to a certain extent, and nonetheless the whole thing – buying pet food, cleaning up the cat box, and trips to the vet – is really too much. Your life is elsewhere.”

Bernhard Schlink