When the Berlin Wall came down a new prosperity came into the lives of all East Germans, including the protagonist of Jenny Erpenbeck's Go, Went, Gone. But since this new prosperity couldn't be attributed to the East Germans' personal merit, by the same token the reduced prospects of African refugees in Berlin could not be blamed on them.  The refugees in question have made their way from war torn countries on the African continent to Italy and then to Berlin, where a German retiree finds himself caught up in their lives. This novel opens up more questions than it answers, but they are vital questions to contemplate.  This is a lucid, intelligent and deeply moving novel.