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Ich glaube jetzt, dass das die Lösung ist
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2025
What an incredible debut novel and although it follows a young German named I. (who goes to Rojava to fight for a better societal vision than Western liberalism, Ethnonationalism and/or autocratic regimes of any religious or ideological bent have to offer) and is depicted through a fairly typical German lens - at least that of a young deutsche person growing up in that chaotic world of total failure of Western "values" all around + all the other shit - I would say THIS NOVEL MUST BE TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH COZ IT WILL HAVE UNIVERSAL APPEAL!
The unique prose style will make it challenging. Could I (there is that "I" again ...) do it as a non-professional albeit bi-lingual dude? Well, damn it ... I should just try to give it a go and send a sample to the publisher coz this story is deeply resonating with the 54-year-old me who would totally join the international brigades in Rojava if I were the protagonist I.'s age, even without a shitty alcoholic failed artisté father and without a love interest serving as initial impetus to leave post DDR Dresden behind.
Because Rojava does indeed represent something so needed in the world: an absence of cynicism, a doing of the possible however messy, a defining of success via small victories like securing a neighborhood, feeding one family, deep solidarity and (as far as I can tell from reading a lot of non-fiction current affairs type articles and books on Syria - shoutout to Fritz Edlinger and Charles Glass) a commitment to using violence only for very strategic defensive objectives.
A commitment to democracy to the core Rojava seems like to me (from my combined reading on the subject, not only this novel), and I love the title of Ken's book: "I believe now, that this is the solution".
Spoiler? It is not the solution, certainly not for protagonist I., whose "REAL LIFE" (NOT his Second Life hahahaha ... well wouldn't you know it, Ken actually mentions my beloved virtual world towards the end and I was like WOOOOOOWWWZZZER!) remains unchanged by his growth overseas in communal living/combat, and because capitalism f***s everything up in general.
But again, this does not mean that we should shrug, become capitalist realists and check if the champagne in the fridge is already cold while the Titanic is on track of hitting the iceberg in due time.
I was taught in Western German High School in the late 80s/early 90s what democracies should look like and that we live in one and I have never experienced one ever since, not in the BRD nor in my many years in the US of A (although a lot more on the grassroots activist level over there because of - generally speaking - not as prevalent a "Untertanengeist" roaming around).
I am rambling so let's end with a little excerpt (translated by me without the help of AI) where the resident theoretician of the international brigades, a Syrian fellow by the name of Tolhildan (he has the habit of reading while eating lunch: AWESOME!) connects protagonist I. with German YouTubers from a channel named "Shice" (OMG DOUBLE AWESOME THE NAME). He warns I. that the "Shicesters"are petty bourgeois hipsters types, totally German, embrace their sentimentality etc.
I. says he can totally handle them and responds:
"Hahaha Tolhildan, haha! Basically everybody who is not a communist is a petty bourgeois who just stands in the way all the time, when you don't remind him that he is standing in the way and that he shouldn't imagine how everything would be if everything would be done his way."
Ok folks: learn German and read this book. And in re Rojava and me as a hypothetical young man hypothetically leaving everything behind to get weapons training to build a better future in the desert? I gotta be honest: when I was protagonist's I.'s age I played in a German Speed Metal band named Rotten Bi*** and my politics were not very sophisticated. Perhaps a love interest dragging me along would have done the trick?
Who knows .... I was standing in the way of myself at the time ... so there!
The unique prose style will make it challenging. Could I (there is that "I" again ...) do it as a non-professional albeit bi-lingual dude? Well, damn it ... I should just try to give it a go and send a sample to the publisher coz this story is deeply resonating with the 54-year-old me who would totally join the international brigades in Rojava if I were the protagonist I.'s age, even without a shitty alcoholic failed artisté father and without a love interest serving as initial impetus to leave post DDR Dresden behind.
Because Rojava does indeed represent something so needed in the world: an absence of cynicism, a doing of the possible however messy, a defining of success via small victories like securing a neighborhood, feeding one family, deep solidarity and (as far as I can tell from reading a lot of non-fiction current affairs type articles and books on Syria - shoutout to Fritz Edlinger and Charles Glass) a commitment to using violence only for very strategic defensive objectives.
A commitment to democracy to the core Rojava seems like to me (from my combined reading on the subject, not only this novel), and I love the title of Ken's book: "I believe now, that this is the solution".
Spoiler? It is not the solution, certainly not for protagonist I., whose "REAL LIFE" (NOT his Second Life hahahaha ... well wouldn't you know it, Ken actually mentions my beloved virtual world towards the end and I was like WOOOOOOWWWZZZER!) remains unchanged by his growth overseas in communal living/combat, and because capitalism f***s everything up in general.
But again, this does not mean that we should shrug, become capitalist realists and check if the champagne in the fridge is already cold while the Titanic is on track of hitting the iceberg in due time.
I was taught in Western German High School in the late 80s/early 90s what democracies should look like and that we live in one and I have never experienced one ever since, not in the BRD nor in my many years in the US of A (although a lot more on the grassroots activist level over there because of - generally speaking - not as prevalent a "Untertanengeist" roaming around).
I am rambling so let's end with a little excerpt (translated by me without the help of AI) where the resident theoretician of the international brigades, a Syrian fellow by the name of Tolhildan (he has the habit of reading while eating lunch: AWESOME!) connects protagonist I. with German YouTubers from a channel named "Shice" (OMG DOUBLE AWESOME THE NAME). He warns I. that the "Shicesters"are petty bourgeois hipsters types, totally German, embrace their sentimentality etc.
I. says he can totally handle them and responds:
"Hahaha Tolhildan, haha! Basically everybody who is not a communist is a petty bourgeois who just stands in the way all the time, when you don't remind him that he is standing in the way and that he shouldn't imagine how everything would be if everything would be done his way."
Ok folks: learn German and read this book. And in re Rojava and me as a hypothetical young man hypothetically leaving everything behind to get weapons training to build a better future in the desert? I gotta be honest: when I was protagonist's I.'s age I played in a German Speed Metal band named Rotten Bi*** and my politics were not very sophisticated. Perhaps a love interest dragging me along would have done the trick?
Who knows .... I was standing in the way of myself at the time ... so there!
December 26, 2025
stalinistische Sinnkrise
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews