Isabel Schayani: Unlikely Friendships

In the U.S., five friends stick together despite belonging to opposing political camps. Anna, a Ukrainian woman, flees the Russian-occupied Donbas. Her communication with her mother, Lilja, who remains behind, is suddenly regarded as contact with the enemy. These and other stories show that hardly anyone can escape the hostility between states, peoples, religions, or political camps—especially not when personal losses come into play. Countless relationships break down because friends suddenly and unexpectedly find themselves on opposing sides. Often, traumatic losses of loved ones can intensify hatred. Even in Germany, this “friend-or-foe” mentality is rapidly gaining ground.

Isabel Schayani uses six vividly told examples to show how these divides can nevertheless be overcome. Her true stories against hatred inspire us to forge and nurture even unlikely friendships with generosity and humility, realism and shared visions, as well as love and humor.