Deutscher Buchpreis: Hey Guten Morgen, wie Geht es Dir? by Martina Hefter

I may confess that I am relatively far behind my list of German reviews for the books included on the Deutscher Buchpreis - the German Booker - but I am doing my best to catch up as much as I can, even a few years later. Most of those books haven´t been translated into Engish so far, therefore it is never too late for edition houses and translators to consider them.

My choice of the day is a book by Leipzig-based choreographer, poet and novelist Martina Hefter. I was not acquainted with her work before reading the book, but the inspiration - love scams, quite a lot. But the topic of Hey Guten Morgen, wie geht es dir? - Hi, good morning, how are you?, in English - goes far beyond the scam - which is playing no dramatic, financially dramatic kind, of scam.

Juno Isabella Flock is a woman in her mid-50s, a freelance choreographer and dancer, married with Jupiter, a successful writer, wellchair-ridden due to MS. She is often getting in touch via Instagram with strangers keen to chat about life and love, but out of them, she chose to spend around one year intensively involved online with one Nigerian guy. Online conversations, video chat, nothing necessarily scammy, until he confesses his ´love´ to her, and she is spending a lot of time writing and talking to him about various readings. She also didn´t share the truth about herself, including that she is married.

The book, built around Juno, is growing up on multiple plans, including ageism and coping with becoming invisible - as an artist, woman etc. (that´s quite an obsession in German literature to complain about getting old and finished, which reflects the social constructions regarding women, attitudes unfathomable in French, Spanish or Italian literature). 

Most of the characters do have astrophysics-inspired names, which sometimes makes sense - Juno spacecraft is orbiting Jupiter, for instance - but often don´t.

There are correspondences between the author´s own biography - based in Leipzig, some tattoos, her husband, the successful author Jan Kuhlbrodt, is also living with MS, or the profession of choreographer. 

The book was awarded the 2024 Deutscher Bucherpreis out of an impressive longlist that I hope to review in the coming weeks as well. Was it the best decision? 

I felt a bit disappointed by the story flow: well built and written, however, mostly introspective and without paying too much attention to really finishing the topic, any of it. It is a marvelous dance, that ends abruptly with the main dancer is suddenly leaving the stage. An unexpected exit hard to place into the line of the general story.

Rating: 3 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rachel´s Random Resources: Twenty-Six Years Living a Lie by Gina Cheyne

 

Cecily celebrates passionately her third year of marriage with her beloved, but who would know that it will be the last? After the sudden death of her husband, a son is born, Charlie. Twenty-Six years after, together with his uncle, his father´s twin, he takes a DNA test with shocking results, for Cecily as well. Her last resort is SeeMs Detective agency, that is tasked with the mission to solve this painful situation.

There are some characters and turn of events that I really enjoyed. The intriguing family mystery and their deep-hidden secrets kept my attention awake. I´ve had my own doubts about some of the characters, and the key of this drama, however the ending surprised me in a very good way.  

The suspense built fast, and so is the tension, which is counter at times by humorous episodes. Humour is hard to take it seriously in a crime book, but in this case the author chose the right sequence to allow it. 

The book is part of the SeeMs Detective series - like another book I´ve reviewed on my blog one year ago - but it can also be read as a standalone. I am definitely interested in further exploring the series.

Twenty-Six Years Living a Lie is a cosy mystery that promises and delivers. A recommended weekend read or a relaxing evening week read, that guarantees a pleasant mystery experience.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Israeli Poets in Germany

There is not too much talk about the emerging Israeli literature in the diaspora: Germany, but especially France, Netherlands, Italy etc. America, yes, it´s the opposite, with many Israeli authors publishing and being appreciated as such. But Europe, for all the good and bad reasons is mostly quiet. Or maybe I need to do better research.

A collection of poetry signed by Israeli authors living in Germany, Was es bedeuten soll (title inspired by a verse from Heine´s Lorelei) - in my own translation What it´s supposed to be - is filling this gap, just opening up the interest - at least my interest - for more. 

The book - with a cover by Köln-based illustrator Noam Weiner - is a collection of works by 13 authors, among which Michal Zamir (who created a Hebrew library and a literary salon in Berlin), Zahava Khalfa, Asaf Dvori or Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus. There are different topics, some dealing with alienation and the loneliness of the life abroad, different voices and perspectives. 

The poems were originally written in Hebrew and translated into German by Gundula Schiffer, a poet herself, and published Adrian Kasnitz´ parasitenpress. 

CLASSIC READS: Mayombe by Pepetela translated into German by Maitta Tkalec

 

My new installment of my newest bookish project CLASSIC READS took me to a country rarely portrayed in the daily literary realm: Angola. As in the case of the previous CLASSIC READS, Macunaima, it was originally written in Portuguese - standard Portugal version - but I had access to it in a German translation. 

The author of Mayombe, my book of choice signed with his nom de guerre, Pepetela. Born Artur Carlos Mauricio Pestana dos Santos, he is considered one of the greatest Angolan writers, wearer of many public hats, among which guerillero on behalf of the MPLA, Angolan guerillas fighting for the Portuguese independence. Due to his political engagement, he delayed the publication of many of the works written between 1970-1971, including Mayombe.

And when he finally decided to publish it, ´brethren countries´ from the communist block, like former GDR/DDR, published it. The translation I had access to was authored by Maitta Tkalec. 

Mayombe is a forest region - some may talk even about a ´magic forest´ - in the Western part of Africa, covering among others parts of Congo region and Angola. There, a group of guerilleros took refuge and the book follows their interactions, through their dialogues to which were added background voices of some of the participants, offering context and personal insights.

I am enthralled by socio-political stories, but I despise ideology mixing with literature, and didn´t know what to expect from this book. I wanted to add a non-Western/European thread to my project and this book was recommended by more than one sources as a ´classic´ - although the author is still alive. 

But this novel confirmed in the end that a great writer with a biased political take still can write quality books if he is following his literary mission. The characters of Mayombe are not heroes, are humans with doubts, feelings and personal inimities that may took over Marxism-Leninism, not the other way round. 

I wanted to see how life under such circumstances enfolds, what disunite - rather than unite - humans under various political pressure. Women do play a disturbing role, as they distract the guerilleros from their mission, they lead to inimities but this does not exclude them from the revolutionary network as they belong to life. And so are the tribe-based distinctions and the contradictions between the appeal of the theories about revolution and the colonial realities - they may fight against the Portuguese domination, but the language their are all using to communicate is Portuguese after all.

There is no capital ´R´ revolution, as there are no heroic myths.

Rachel´s Random Resources: New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet

 

Women writers are not only in books nice to deal with. But imagine them spending some nice writing time at a retreat on the French Riviera. In the house of a famous experienced chef, nevertheless. But he is grieving the death of his beloved wife, feeling guilty for the circumstances of her death. Allowing the writers into his life may bring a new chance though, opening new chapters unforeseen before.

New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet, an author I´ve featured before, is a sweet and heartwarming tale, with memorable characters and a compassionate story. I liked how it dives into grief offering a realistic yet relatable take on second chances and the power of renewal.

The descriptions of the French Riviera feel authentic and do create that special ambiance allowing the new love to burgeon. It is definitely a good inspiration for your summer plans as well, no matter which relationship status are you in.

It is a good summer recommended read for lovers of good romance infused by hope and celebration of love, no matter when it how often may come into our lives. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Comme in un Film by Anna Nicoletto

My Italian learning spree is going just fine, but I am struggling sometimes to finding good books to read, as opposed to books I read for the sake of vocabulary or grammar exercises. My best read of the last four weeks was a funny romcom with a well built plot: Come in un Film - Like in a movie, in my own translation - by the self-publishing phenomenon Anna Nicoletto. 

Told alternatively from the perspective of the two main protagonists - Cloe and Sebastiano, former schoolmates, enemies that are about to become lovers - it is built around a movie theatre. Aurora, a movie theatre in a small Italian town belonged to Cloe´s family for generations, but as her beloved aunt wants to retire, there is no interest on Cloe´s side to get involved in the business. As she meets Sebastiano, now a successful businessman, owning more than half of the town and interested to purchase Aurora as well, old inimities seem to melt. 

The story is sugary, but it keeps you interested as there are always new elements diverting the story, although the ending may be predictable. From the point of view of the language, I´ve learned a lot, especially everyday language and conversations. 

It was an enjoyable as well as useful read, and I am just getting started with my Italian reads. More - and more serious - to come in the next days.

CLASSIC READS: Macunaíma by Mário de Andrade translated into German by Curt Meyer-Clason

 

There are classic books and authors brought into oblivion after decades of literary amnesia, and suddenly everyone is talking about them. My CLASSIC READ project launched at the end of the last year was never meant to be focused on European authors, but as I was rather trying to focus on some titles from the French and English-speaking realm, everyone started talking about Macunaíma by Mário de Andrade and couldn´t resist adding it to my urgent list.

The reason of the fame is the new translation into English from Brazilian Portuguese by Katrina Dodson published this month three years ago by New Directions Publishing. Personally, I had access to a German edition, translated by the late Curt Meyer-Clason. 

Few words about my reading in translation...I could have read it in Portuguese but from reasons of intellectual laziness I rather looked for a mediated version. De Andrade´s original published in 1928 has a special musicality and inner rhythm - besides being a writer and photographer, he was also a musicologist - which personally I haven´t found it at all in the German version. Rather the opposite, and this affected my perception and intimate connection with the book or thereof lack of.

What I also desperately missed was an extensive glossary - there is one, but relatively limited, mostly covering words used in original - that could have help to understand the meta references as well as the general cultural context.

Macunaíma is a multi-layered experimental modernist novel of Brasil, where elements of epic meet farse and cultural irony - especially against the French and Portugal literary and linguistic dominance at the time. The eponymous hero - ´a hero with no character´/o herói sem nenhum caráter, in the original version nevertheless a lazy hero - is born in the jungle and killed his mother desguised as a deer by an evil spirit. Together with his brothers he is crossing Brazil searching, among others, for a lost amulet, changing from an Amazonian black man into a white man and meeting many mythological creatures.

The text - anti-novel rather, an epic national journey - is short with absurd, dadaist even, takes that require accepting the text in itself, relying to the meaning provided by the author maybe, but sometimes hardly to trace objectively. A symbol may be re-contextualized or maintained within the original interpretations, thus the importance of following a complex critical overview to be sure the text is properly understood. I may confess that I will need to return to the text in the English version sooner or later or maybe also confront with the original. 

There is also a film inspired by the book, that I haven´t watched yet, that hopefully will be watching for a special post dedicated to movies based on some of the reads included in this project, such as Death in Venice.