India, Aug. 24 -- Where does one truly belong - a place, a past, or a sense of self? Some questions resist simple answers, and a perfect example where this stands true is author Herta Muller's book Traveling on One Leg . Originally published in German, in 1989, its English translation familiarises one with the story of Irene, a woman in her mid-thirties in the 1980s, who leaves Romania for West Berlin. Born into a German family in Romania, Irene's sense of identity is marked by uncertainty from the very beginning. Her emigration to West Germany only deepens this crisis. Although she escapes Romania's political conditions, in her new country, she remains an outsider and captures this paradox using the words: "a foreigner in a foreign country". And it's through her that Muller's short novel delves into the unsettling experiences of displacement, alienation, and the struggle to find a sense of belonging. The title, then, perhaps rightly reflects Irene's constant state of imbalance as travelling on 'one leg' suggests her inability to be fully present in either body or soul. Alongside, what the reader witnesses is Irene's loneliness in her attempts to make sense of her new identity through her relationships with three men: Franz, Stefan, and Thomas. She experiences physical intimacy with each yet remains emotionally detached. She even brings the political past into her present while failing to mentally check out of her hometown, and continuing to make space for memories dominated by dictatorship, surveillance, repression, and the Wall (referring to the Berlin Wall). Muller, therefore, suggests that a home cannot be defined by a geographical location, a legal status, or one's physical surroundings as it's a rather emotional and psychological state that must be found within oneself. In the process of proving this, however, the storytelling takes a rather non-linear route as Irene's experience in exile use her stream of consciousness to present the reader with mostly disjointed thoughts, fragmented images, and fleeting observations. In this sense, the book becomes an extension of its protagonist's alienation, and her fractured inner world gets reflected in the fragmented narration of her story. This is capable of posing quite a challenge for those readers who aren't familiar with the style and structure of Muller, who is the recipient of 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Yet, none can deny that her writing succeeds at powerfully portraying displacement and its lasting psychological impact on an individual's sense of identity. Title: Traveling on One Leg Author: Herta Muller Translators: Valentina Glajar and Andre Lefevere Publisher: Aleph Book Company Price: Rs.599...