Mein Vater war ein Mann an Land und im Wasser ein Walfisch

by Michelle Steinbeck

Loribeth ist auf der Flucht, in ihrem Koffer ein erschlagenes Kind. Eine Wahrsagerin hilft ihr Sie muss den Koffer samt Kind ihrem verschollenen Vater bringen, um erwachsen zu werden. Auf ihrer phantastischen Reise durchquert sie Städte, Wüsten und Meere und verliebt sich in alle Wesen, die ihr etwas Essbares anbieten. Doch unerwartete Begegnungen, Katastrophen und eine erschreckend lebendige Kofferleiche zwingen sie stets weiterzuziehen - bis der Koffer seinen Bestimmungsort findet und Loribeths Blick sich verä Das Magische geht ins Reale über. Das lang­ersehnte Leben im Kreis der auserwählten Freunde ist öd; nichts passiert. Um ein wenig Magie zurückzuholen, wird wild gefeiert, doch Loribeth kann nicht aufhören zu Soll das nun alles sein? Michelle Steinbeck ist mit ihrem Debütroman eine virtuose Entwicklungsgeschichte gelungen. In einer sinnlichen Sprache erzählt sie die Abenteuer einer jungen Frau, deren Ängste vor dem Erwachsenwerden buchstäblich lebendig geworden sind. Die märchenhaften Bilder überraschen durch skurrile Wendungen und offenbaren einen wachen Blick auf die zeitlosen Themen der Jugend. Nominiert für den Deutschen Buchpreis 2016. Nominiert für den Schweizer Buchpreis 2016

Genres: German Literature

153 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Michelle Steinbeck was born in Lenzburg in 1990, studied creative writing in Biel and lives in Basel and Zurich. She works as an editor at Fabrikzeitung and is organiser of Babelsprech, a forum for young German language poets. Her prose, poetry and dramas have been widely published in anthologies and magazines, performed on stage and broadcast.

From Darf publishers (UK) 2018 catalogue:
http://darfpublishers.co.uk/Catalogue...

Reviews

[Ernst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verträumt, anders, sprachlich schön… hat mir gut gefallen, müsste es aber noch mal lesen um eine richtige Rezension zu schreiben, da mir kaum was in Erinnerung geblieben ist.
Ist jetzt bloß wieder aufgetaucht weil ihr neuer Roman Favorita für den Schweizer Buchpreis 2024 nominiert ist.

[Helen McClory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slight, with excellent language. Seamless reading for a short ferry journey somewhere.

[Michael Bohli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das älter werden ist nicht einfach, man muss seinen eigenen Weg finden, seine Persönlichkeit, sich von den Eltern lösen, das innere Kind verleugnen und dann noch fest im Leben stehen? Kein Wunder, flüchtet sich Loribeth in eine Welt, in der Fantasie und Wirklichkeit zu einem surrealen Abenteuer verschmelzen. Und damit gelingt es Michelle Steinbeck in ihrem ersten Roman "Mein Vater war ein Mann an Land und im Wasser ein Walfisch", die Sorgen und Vorstellungen in märchenhafter Form darzustellen.

Leider stolpert das Buch etwas über seine traumähnliche Form, gewisse Zusammenhänge wollen sich nicht richtig erschliessen. Auch sind die Sprünge zwischen den Kapiteln manchmal etwas uninspiriert - am Ende fügt sich dann aber doch alles wieder zusammen. Bei diesem Buch ist es wohl wie mit allem anderen auf der Welt auch - die Wahrheit liegt irgendwie zwischen den Aussagen, man muss sie sich selber zusammenreimen.

[Holly]

i finished this book an hour ago and i truly do not know how i feel about it. it may have to stay unrated.

whilst i finished this book in under 24 hours, i can't say i liked it or understood what was happening half the time... it was just so surreal. i did enjoy some of the humour and the quirky side characters you meet along the way, but there was just always too much going on but also NOTHING going on. so odd.

[Giorgia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Credevo di trovarmi di fronte a un piccolo romanzo di formazione, ma quello che ho trovato è stato un delirio psichedelico e privo di senso alcuno. Surrealismo? Non ne ho idea, io non ho capito una parola.

[Diletta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quando pensi che forse è troppo è evidente che non è ancora abbastanza. Surreale che tira schiaffi, quasi terapeutico.

https://onlyapapermoonweb.wordpress.c...

[n · Rating 2 out of 5]

ein einziger fiebertraum.

[Sina]

??

[John Hatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the main character develops, the reader is taken into and out of a dream world until it's no longer easy to distinguish what is dream and what is reality. But, frankly, does it really make a difference? This is an interesting debut novel and an author that it will be interesting to watch.

[Selina]

Odd, but interesting to read! Not sure I want to rate it.

[Helen Hagon · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like surreal, hallucination-style stories, then this book is for you. The narrator, Loribeth, accidentally kills a child (or so we assume) with an iron, and then sets out on an expedition to find her father, taking the child with her in a suitcase. Along the way, she has strange encounters with some equally strange people, including Fridolin Seifert, whom she marries. The more I read, the more I was convinced that the child in the suitcase was herself, and that this was really a journey of self-discovery.
Originally written in German, this book has been superbly translated into English by Jen Calleja. The English flows beautifully and as naturally as the bizarre storyline will allow. At less than 100 pages, it is a quick read, but I felt the length was just right. Any longer and it would have been too heavy, as the story is not straightforward and its telling is rather rich, almost poetic.

[hana banana · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is hands down one of the weirdest books i've ever read. it felt like a fever dream - i think it may have been a fever dream (quite literally) but i'm not actually too sure. the disconnect between me, as a reader, and some of the characters felt a little foreign but not necessarily in a negative way - it is just unlike anything i've ever read before. that said, it was really fun at times & i laughed out loud on multiple occasions because of how bizarre this all was. it's safe to say that this is probably the closest insight one could get to how my brain works when i'm fast asleep lol :)

*if you go into this knowing it'll be weird & embracing that, you're much more likely to enjoy it than if you expect to read a normal book & pick this up.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young woman travels through a hallucinatory dreamscape in search of the father who left when she was a child, dragging her emotional baggage. It is a strange book, but quite enjoyable.
This might help with interpreting some of her encounters and experiences: https://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdicti...
For example: Hunger
To dream that you are hungry signifies a feeling of unfulfillment in some area of your life. You may be starving for love. recognition, power, sex, wealth, or fame. You are longing to achieve something that you have desired for awhile. Alternatively, the dream may simply be that you are really feeling hungry and it is being manifested in your dream.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Favola Moderna nella quale la protagonista, un'antieroina che fuma, uccide, picchia, si lamenta è partita in un mondo fantastico con una valigia alla ricerca del padre. Incontrerà personaggi fantastici, uomini più o meno miseri, mamme, mostri.
Un racconto che non mi ha minimamente convinto né coinvolto e che quindi valuto assolutamente negativamente. Per fortuna è stato breve e indolore

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the sparse, strange style of this but ultimately found it almost impossible to follow the plot or build up any emotions at all about the characters.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

liebe das surreale und eigentlich alles daran <333

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

feels like a fever dream in the best way

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hungry girl begins a journey and judging by just the food alone progresses from gnawing on a clot of frozen spinach to eating trout cake with beer, then pickled sausages (while a cat chews an eyeball) followed by a crone's little finger, fish, wine, squashed cucumber sandwiches from the muscular fair-haired man, and roast bananas.
I woke up in a rubber dinghy.
"Our thoughts are never free. Try not to think at all! Our heads are full of flying scraps of rubbish that never let us think clearly. If someone succeeded in tidying these up, to blow them away and free themselves from these cliches of thought, our way of thinking would be different, and thus how we behave too."
"I'm like you. I have the same illness: wanting everything. To know everything, to feel everything, to experience everything! As much of the world as can fit into a life, that's what I want. And even more."
"We stick with the first person we don't find unbearable just so we're not alone. ..We brick ourselves in with promises and obligations and close off all the ways that could lead to something new and exciting."
This little book is so refreshing!

WSU library

[Jacopo Altieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an amazing book. It throws you into a World where Reality and Immagination meet and mix, whitout explaining you anything. The complex grammar and phrase construction is scary at first, it confuses you, but then you start to get the feel of it, you lose yourself in this crazy world.

A girl in search of her missing father, with a Luggage to give him... What does it contain? Just read the book and you will be shocked. A crude, surreal story which leaves the reader short of breath

A great book no one talks about, I really recommend it.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange, entertaining, little book.

[Vanni Santoni]

Ventesimo titolo della collana "Romanzi" di Tunué