Samson und Nadjeschda

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Seine Mutter und seine Schwester sind bereits verstorben und nun hat auch sein Vater den Überfall auf sie beiden nicht überlebt. Der 17-jährige Samson ist auf sich allein gestellt und das mit nur noch einem Ohr. Als das Geld knapp wird - wie alles andere in den Wirren der Revolution von 1919 - stellt er sich bei der Miliz vor und erhält den Job, jemand, der schreiben kann, ist eindeutig nützlich. Kiew versinkt langsam im Chaos und Samsons erster Fall ist mehr als mysteriös: Diebstähle von Silber, während das Gold und Diamanten nicht angetastet werden, ein unfertiger Anzug in seltsamem Format und der ermordete deutsche Schneider Balzer. Samson stürzt sich in die Arbeit, wenn sein Vorgehen auch für Verwunderung sorgt.

Andrej Kurkows Roman „Samson und Nadjeschda“ ist der Auftakt einer historischen Krimiserie um den cleveren Samson Koletschko, der zur unübersichtlichen Zeit der Revolution spielt. Plötzlich auf sich allein gestellt muss er das Beste aus seiner Situation machen, mit der Hausmeisterwitwe und mit Nadjeschda hat er jedoch auch zwei patente Frauen an seiner Seite.

Samson löst den Fall mit Beharrlichkeit und guter Beobachtungsgabe. Dass er dabei von den üblichen Wegen abweicht und seinen Vorgesetzten mehr als einmal verwundert, erstaunt nicht, er hat die Ermittlungsarbeit ja nicht gelernt, bringt aber alles mit, um mit den richtigen Fragen und Schlüssen dem Geheimnis auf die Schliche zu kommen.

„Wenn ein Mensch sich in sein Gegenteil verkehrt, kann er auch mit Gut und Böse durcheinanderkommen.“

Neben der Kriminalhandlung überzeugt der Roman vor allem durch die Atmosphäre. Das Chaos der Revolution wird greifbar, Freund und Feind reichen als Kategorien nicht mehr aus und Sicherheit wird ein rares Gut. Redlichkeit und Gerechtigkeitssinn, wie Samson sie zeigt, werden immer seltener. Er ist zwar nicht ganz unbezwingbar wie sein biblischer Namensvetter und seine Liebe zu Nadjeschda wird ihm hier auch nicht zum Verhängnis, aber seinem Volk Gerechtigkeit zu verschaffen, ist auch sein Ziel.

Eine überzeugende Geschichte, mit ungewöhnlicher Falllösung, die atmosphärisch sofort verfängt.

Jahre mit Martha

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Željko Kovačević, von allen nur Jimmy genannt, wächst in Ludwigshafen auf. Vom kroatischen Sohn eines Bauarbeiters und einer Putzfrau erwartet man nicht viel, schon gar nicht, dass er heimlich Zeitungen klaut, um neue Wörter zu lernen. Die geringe Erwartung der Welt spornt ihn an und die Arbeitgeberin seiner Mutter, Martha Gruber, ihrerseits Professorin, unterstützt ihn dabei. Es ist eine besondere Beziehung, die den 15-Jährigen mit der erwachsenen Frau verbindet und die fortbestehen wird, über seinen Schulabschluss und das Literaturstudium hinaus.

Der Lektor und Autor Martin Kordić beschreibt in seinen zweiten Roman „Jahre mit Martha“ eine Liebe, die nicht sein kann und den unbändigen Wunsch nach einem Leben, das für den jungen Željko nicht vorgesehen ist: Die Welt der Bildung, der Bücher und des souveränen Bewegens in der Mehrheitsgesellschaft. Es ist ein Roman über das Erwachsenwerden, des Aufeinandertreffens von Kulturen und der Suche nach dem Platz im Leben.

Jimmy reiht sich eine in eine ganze Riege von zweiter Generation von Einwanderern, die in den letzten Jahren literarisch verarbeitet wurden und die sich mit großen Steinen konfrontiert sehen, was ihre Zukunftschancen angeht. Sie bewegen sich sensibel zwischen den beiden Welten, zwischen dem Zuhause, das oftmals noch den Regeln des elterlichen Herkunftslandes folgt, und der Mehrheitsgesellschaft, für die sie Fremde sind. Treffen sie auf die richtigen Menschen, die sie als Mentoren fördern und den Zugang ermöglichen, öffnet sich ihnen eine neue Welt.

Doch zwischen Jimmy und Martha besteht keine platonische Beziehung, sondern eine einzigartige Liebe, die über Jahre dauert und nie wirklich ausgelebt werden kann. Es ist fast so, als sei da immer ein Band gewesen, dass sie verbindet, unsichtbar für die Außenwelt, mal lockerer, mal enger. Auch wenn man als Leser zunächst stutzt aufgrund des Altersunterschieds und der Tatsache, dass Jimmy bei ihrer Begegnung minderjährig ist, so ist es doch eine intellektuelle Verbindung, von Bewunderung des Jungen geprägt, an der nichts falsch zu sein scheint.

Ein Roman, in dem man sich sofort verliert und dessen junger Protagonist von der ersten Seite an begeistert.

Life Ceremony

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Twelve stories from Japan, tales about love, food, relationships, life and death. Sayaka Murata offers a mix of stories that raise questions about how we live, what we consider acceptable and more than once goes beyond the red line of our comfort feeling. It is not always easy to follow the characters, to dive into Murata’s world and not to be appalled but to remain open minded. The author does not specify if the plots are set in today’s Japan, at some point of the future or in an alternative reality, it remains for the reader to decide. Having read “Earthlings” and “Convenience Store Woman” I already knew that the author has a talent to reaching my emotional limits and this she succeeds again with her stories.

Some of the stories left a deeper impact on me than others. Among them the one that also provided the title for the short story collection, “Life Ceremony”. The idea of eating human flesh was beyond my imagination even though I liked how the protagonist was drawn and her emotions transmitted.

Food in general seems to be a topic in Japanese literature, after recently having read “Butter” by Asako Yuzuki, I already had the impression that the sensual aspect is something that plays an important role, maybe because a highly controlled society does not grant itself the luxury of such feelings.

Relationships, types of families also are touched upon several times, can two women qualify as family and can a couple experience love without ever having intercourse? The stories invite you to ponder about many questions and to scrutinize your position and attitude when it comes to the deviation of the common.

A wide range of short insights into lives that move unnoticed among people even though they are at the fringe if their nerves.

This is Gonna End in Tears

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Olly, Ash and Miller have grown up together. In their community, they have always been perceived as a unit which nobody could intrude. In their small East Coast town, life is easy in the 1950s and dream are big. Forty years later, things are different. None is left of their friendship, Olly is on his own, now also without a job and Ash and Miller are negotiating their separation. It is Olly’s aunt Tassie that cannot stay any longer in her care home that brings them together again. It is not easy to confront the past, especially while watching a young threesome bunch repeating their mistakes.

I totally adored Liza Klaussmann’s novel “Tigers in Red Weather” and thus was eager to read her latest novel “This is Gonna End in Tears”. She did not disappoint, quite the contrary, the story is the perfect read for a hot summer where you sense that it needs some escalation to be able to breathe again. Full of suspense even though it is not a mystery, you read on to find out how all the tension between the characters will finally dissolve.

“Well, that was the point, what he’d only recently realized: there is no point; everyone thinks they’re the hero of their own story, when actually there’s no story at all. Just an outline that gets filled in with nonsense and accidents and happenstance and luck. And the, well... and then nothing.”

What I appreciated most was how the author detailed the characters. They are all unique in their disappointments of life, in their mixed emotions and inability to actually speak about what goes on in their mind. The atmosphere profits from this, you feel that something must happen, that they cannot just go on like this.

It is a novel about friendship and dreams and expectations of life, about creative minds and everyday chore, about bonds that are strong and bonds that can feel like handcuffs. An intoxicating read from the first page which I could hardly put down.

The Complication

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Seattle attorney Camille Delaney rushed to the hospital where her friend Dallas Jackson has to undergo an emergency operation with a fatal outcome. When the former nurse accidentally sees his folder, questions arise. What happened in the operation room? And why was nobody aware of the seemingly critical state her friend was in? As her company only represents hospitals and high profile doctors, thus she cannot pursue her inquiries. Instead this brings her to a point where she has to ask herself if she has given up her ideals for the money and status. As a consequence, she decides to run the risk and leaves the company to start her own firm with her first case. She soon realises that nobody wants to talk about Dr Willcox, responsible surgeon in the operation room, but her gut feeling tells her that something is totally going wrong in this hospital.

There are some similarities between the author and her protagonist. Amanda DuBois herself was a trained nurse before she became a lawyer and medical malpractice has been her area of specialisation. “The Complication” is her first novel which highly relies on her profession knowledge combining medical aspects with law. From a seemingly unfortunate operation, the case develops into a complicated conspiracy which brings the protagonist repeatedly into dangerous situations since she has to deal with reckless people who do not care about a single life.

What I liked about the novel was how the medical details were incorporated and explained along the way so that the reader with limited medical knowledge could smoothly follow the action. The characters are authentically drawn, especially Camille’s discussion with her mother about her ideals and principles raising the question what use she makes of her legal capacities while working for a law firm that puts more interest in the billing hours than helping to serve the law was interesting to follow.

Even though I would estimate that the case is realistically depicted with Camille again and again coming to dead ends and only advancing slowly, I would have preferred a higher pace since as a reader, you have a lead and soon know what scheme is behind it all.

Friends Like These

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Eighteen-year-old Beth arrives in Manhattan in June 1983 with high expectations. An investigative article for her school’s newspaper secured her a prestigious internship at a newspaper and promises to become the summer of her life. However, her welcome is rather unspectacular, the apartment she shares is shabby and she feels like an outsider. At her workplace, too, she soon feels like a stranger, her three fellow interns seem to be much more knowledgeable and move around like fish in the water. She immediately befriends Edie, an outgoing young woman of New York’s high society. Hard work, a completely new life - Beth is overwhelmed by her new life, too overwhelmed to notice that not all is what it seems and therefore, she has to learn the hard way, that New York is a shark’s pond.

Meg Rosoff has created another young adult novel that also attracts adult readers like me. “Friends Like These” tackles not only Beth’s coming-of-age but also friendship at workplaces, the precarious situation of interns and still after so many decades, women’s place when it comes to careers – it does not make much difference that the novel is set four decades in the past.

Beth is the typical bumpkin, she is inexperienced, insecure and does not know how to behave in these unknown surroundings with all the cool people. Edie quickly becomes her mentor and introduces her to the habits and lifestyles of the Big Apple. The difference between the two girls could hardly be greater, but soon, Beth comes to understand that not all is gold that glitters and that what she envies is not what it seems at first.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, funny as well as reflective it opens a whirling world that makes you question what you really want in life. A novel of first which can be exciting and hurting at the same time.

To Kill a Troubadour

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Summer could be enjoyable and light hearted but then, the cosy Périgord region is caught in Spain’s trouble with Catalonia’s independence movement. “Les Troubadours”, a local folk group, have published a song supporting autonomy for the region that shares their cultural heritage. The song goes viral and soon not only the Spanish government but also shady groups become aware of the poet and the band. When the police find a sniper’s bullet and a stolen car in the woods, the know that the situation is much more serious than they thought and that people are in real danger as the Troubadours are about to perform a large concert.

Martin Walker continues his series around the French countryside chief of police Bruno Courrèges. Even though also the 15th Dordogne mystery offers a lot to recognise from the former novels, “To Kill a Troubadour” is much more political and takes up a current real life topic. Apart from this, you’ll get exactly what you’d expect from the series: a lot of food to indulge in, history of the region and the French countryside where everybody seems to be friends with everybody.

One would expect the life of a countryside policeman to be rather unspectacular and slow, however, this could not be farer away from Bruno’s reality. Not only do big conflicts come to his cosy province, but also a case of domestic violence demands his full attention.

What I appreciated most, like in other instalments of the series before, was how the cultural heritage was integrated into the plot and teaches about the history you along the way in a perfectly dosed manner.

Full of suspense while offering the well-known French countryside charm, a wonderful read to look forward to summer holidays in France.

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The Poet

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Emma is 25 and a promising poet and PhD student at Oxford. She is researching into a long forgotten female poet named Charlotte Mew whose work she uncovered and analyses. When she, the girl from the north and a middle-class family, came to the prestigious college, she felt like not belonging, her accent revealed her background, but her professor Tom saw something in her. He didn’t tell her that he was still married with kids and she didn’t mind. Now, years later, she finds herself in a toxic relationship. The renowned professor knew how to manipulate the young woman with low self-esteem doubting herself. Despite the success with her own poems, he can exert control over her, her thinking and cleverly gaslights her. He goes even further until she reaches a point where she has to decide to either give up herself or fight.

Louisa Reid’s novel “The Poet” is the portrait of a young woman who encountered the wrong man at the wrong time. She falls for her teacher who is charming, who sparks something in her, who makes her feel special and talented. Yet, she does not realise at which point this positive energy turns into the negative and when his second face is revealed. The power he has over her, the power his position attributes him, bring her into an inferior position from which it is hard to be believed and to escape.

The arrangement of power the author chooses is well-known: male vs. female, older vs. younger, rich background vs. middle class, academic vs. working class. All factors play out for Tom and from the start put him into the position of control. Emma, young and naive, is only too eager to succumb to it since she falls for his intellect and charm. He is idolised by students as well as his colleagues, quite naturally she is flattered by his attention.

On the other hand, we have the manipulative scholars who knows exactly what makes his female students tick. He has noticed Emma’s talent and knows how to profit from it. Systematically, he makes her feel inferior, stresses her weak points – her background, her family, the lack of money – keeps her from progressing with her work. He makes himself the Ubermensch in her view and manages to keep her close as he needs her, too. Not emotionally, but in a very different way.

Wonderfully written in verse and yet, it reads like a novel. Heart-wrenching at times, analytical at others the book immediately seduces and keeps you reading on.

Das Haus der stummen Toten

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Eleanor erlebt das, was niemand erleben sollte: als sie ihre Großmutter Vivianne besuchen will, trifft sie auf deren Mörder. Aufgrund ihrer Gesichtsblindheit kann sie den Täter jedoch nicht identifizieren. Monate später ist sie endlich so weit, sich um den Nachlass zu kümmern und fährt gemeinsam mit ihrem Freund und ihrer Tante nach Solhöga, einem Gut, von dem sie noch nie etwas gehört hat. Ein Notar begleitet sie, um den Bestand des Hofs aufzunehmen. Kaum sind sie angekommen, geschehen seltsame Dinge in den alten Gemäuern. Eleanor scheint ihre Großmutter hören zu können, die sie warnt. Und wo steckt eigentlich der Gutsverwalter? Schnell wird gewiss: ihr Gefühl trügt sie nicht: sie schweben in Lebensgefahr.

Der zweite Thriller der schwedischen Autorin Camilla Sten konnte mich restlos von ihrem Talent, das ihr sicherlich auch durch ihre berühmte Mutter Viveca mitgegeben wurde, überzeugen. „Das Haus der stummen Toten“ zeichnet sich durch eine düstere Atmosphäre aus, die einem immer wieder Schaudern lässt. Man ahnt bald schon, dass vieles nicht so ist, wie es scheint, aber woher die Bedrohung tatsächlich kommt, zeigt sich erst spät.

Der Thriller ist perfekt durchorchestriert: der Mord an der Großmutter, der der jungen Protagonistin noch in den Knochen steckt. Dann das düstere Anwesen, das offenbar mit gutem Grund verheimlicht wurde. Ein mysteriöses Tagebuch, das mehr Fragen aufreißt als es Antworten geben könnte und unerklärliche Vorgänge sowie der Schatten einer Person, die sich offenbar in ihrer Nähe befindet und die Fäden immer enger zieht.

Spannung von Beginn an und ein gut gehütetes Familiengeheimnis, das endlich aufgelöst werden will – ein Psychothriller, wie man ihn sich wünscht.

Vladimir

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The unnamed 58-year-old narrator and her husband John have been teaching in the English department of a small college for years. From the start, they have found a relaxed way in their relationship, not asking too many questions, but being good partners and caring for their daughter. Now, however, a group of former students accuses John of having abused his power to lure them into affairs. At the same time, a new couple shows up at the college, Vladimir and his wife, both charismatic writers who both fascinate equally. The narrator immediately falls for Vladimir, even more after having read his novel, a feeling she hasn’t known for years and all this in the most complicated situation of her marriage.

Admittedly, I was first drawn to the book because of the cover that was used for another novel I read last year and liked a lot. It would have been a pity to overlook Julia May Jonas’ debut “Vladimir” which brilliantly captures the emotional rollercoaster of a woman who – despite her professional success and being highly esteemed – finds herself in exceptional circumstances and has to reassess her life.

Jonas’ novel really captures the zeitgeist of campus life and the big questions of where men and women actually stand – professionally as well as in their relationship. Even though the narrator has an equal job to her husband, she, after decades of teaching, is still only considered “his wife” and not an independent academic. That she, too, is highly affected in her profession by the allegations against her husband is simply a shame, but I fear that this is just how it would be in real life.

They had an agreement on how their relationship should look like, but now, she has to ask herself is this wasn’t one-sided. She actually had taken the classic role of wife and mother, caring much more for their daughter while he was pursuing his affairs. They had an intellectual bond which was stronger than the bodily but this raises questions in her now. Especially when she becomes aware of what creative potential her longing for Vladimir trigger in her.

A novel which provides a lot of food for thought, especially in the middle section when the narrator is confronted with professional consequences due to her husband’s misbehaviour. The author excellently captures the narrator’s oscillating thoughts and emotions making the novel a great read I’d strongly recommend.