Bestattung eines Hundes

by Thomas Pletzinger

Thomas Pletzingers großartiges Romandebüt zeigt eine Generation zwischen Liebe, Freiheitsdrang und Verantwortung Ein Ethnologe in einer Lebenskrise, ein Kinderbuchautor mit einem Bestseller und einer Ruine am Luganer See, eine finnische Ärztin, ein kleiner Junge ohne Vater, ein mysteriöser Freund, ein sterbender Hund und ein verstecktes Manuskript: Thomas Pletzinger macht daraus eine hochspannende, aberwitzige und anrührende Geschichte. Im Streit verlässt Daniel Mandelkern die großzügige Altbauwohnung im Hamburger Generalsviertel und Elisabeth, seine Frau und Chefin. Sie hat ihm den Auftrag erteilt, den öffentlichkeitsscheuen Autor Dirk Svensson am Luganer See zu besuchen und für den von ihr verantworteten Kulturteil einer Wochenzeitung zu interviewen. Äußerst widerwillig macht Mandelkern sich auf den Weg, hofft aber, dass ihm die Distanz helfen wird, sich klar zu werden – über sein Leben, seine Liebe und die Zukunft seiner Ehe. Schon bei der Ankunft am See ahnt er, dass am Ende seiner Reise mehr stehen wird als das Autorenporträt, das Elisabeth erwartet. Denn Mandelkern ist nicht der einzige Gast. Mit ihm besteigen eine schöne junge Frau und ihr Sohn das Boot, mit dem Svensson und sein dreibeiniger Hund in Lugano anlegen. Es folgen vier Tage in Svenssons Welt, in denen Daniel Mandelkern sich und sein Leben mit anderen Augen zu sehen lernt. Er wird hineingezogen in eine tödliche Dreiecksbeziehung und in ein Manuskript, das er im Gästezimmer findet und das ihn nach New York, Brasilien und tief in das rätselhafte Leben des Dirk Svensson führt. Bestattung eines Hundes erzählt von den Mittdreißigern unserer Tage, die an vielen Orten der Welt gewesen sind, ohne irgendwo zu Hause zu sein, die viel ausprobiert haben, ohne eine Berufung zu finden, die große Pläne geschmiedet haben und nun kleine Lösungen finden müssen. Die alte Geschichte von der Sehnsucht nach Glück und Liebe, Thomas Pletzinger erfindet sie neu, mit einem genauen Blick, sprachlicher Finesse und atmosphärischer Dichte.

Genres: Fiction, German Literature, Literature, Germany, Contemporary, Book Club, 21st Century

345 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Born in 1975, Thomas Pletzinger has won several awards for his writing, including fellowships and teaching positions at the University of Iowa, New York University, and Grinnell College. He lives in Berlin.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I had no idea what Borromean rings were (by name) when I started reading this but it would be helpful to have the image in your mind when you open the first page. The theme of three stories, lives or other concepts, linking seamlessly together is woven in many manifestations through the book. Three players, three stories, three stages of each story, etc., are the basics for the foundation of the propelling forward of the storyline. I loved the concept, even though, overall, it becomes too complicated to summarize or even explain well.

There isn't much in terms of legitimate work on Daniel Mandelkern's plate. He is, by training, an ethnologist but has sold out to a job that, well, pays. He works for his wife, Elizabeth, as a journalist, though he is less than sure about the success of this arrangement. In the middle of a heated debate regarding the future of their yet un-conceived offspring, Elizabeth sends Mandelkern off to investigate a human interest piece on a rather odd children's book author.

Said author goes by Dirk Svensson but he doesn't go by it to too many people as he's been hidden away for quite some time. His recent and wildly successful book, The Story of Leo and the Notmuch, is about as weird as the writer himself, brining back strands of Irving's bizarre children's book references in Widow for One Year. Svensson's only other publication is an equally strange account of a much different sort. An emotional manage trois, pieced together, through the book by all players in the story, is the main story line. His friends and partners, Tuuli and Felix, though never the voices of the book held in this reader's hands, tell more of the story of Svensson and, ultimately, Mandelkern than the two leading men. The other resonant, though secondary voice included in the story telling, is the vivacious, if sometimes inappropriate, Kiki Kaufman.

The third "ring", if you will, is the voiceless wonder, Lua. He may have only three legs but he has more story to dispatch than his speaking counterparts. I have never read a book in which an animal plays such a passively active role. It's impossible to explain his impact on the book but one might guess that, given the title, his contribution weighs heavily on most of the story.

Beautifully crafted and expertly written, this is, hands down, one of the neatest books I've ever read. It has shadows of Pynchon, Hemingway and Irving which, if you know me at all, you know is something bound to make me smile. I highly recommend this to anyone in need of a good but deep laugh, a reflection on the darker and sometimes weirder parts of life, it is, more than anything, a simple, albeit soul-searching read.

[Franziska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es ist schwer dieses Buch in Worte zu fassen. Es wird viel gestorben (Hähne, Hunde, Menschen...), es gibt viele Rätsel und menschliche Dramen. Und doch ist dieses Buch ganz anders. Besonders am Ende sehr stark und überraschend.
Für Leute, die bereit sind sich auf eine ganz eigene Story einzulassen und Zeit mitbringen um sie zu begreifen.

[Sahra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite a bizarre narrative structure, this was an amazing read. A random pick-up from my local library - the cover with its neon colours and the word 'dog' attracting my attention - I'm so pleased I stuck with it. The initial Mandelkern stuff got a bit wearing, but the addition of Svensson, Lua et al made the book came alive.

[Blake Fraina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is a spiral; not a line.

Daniel Mandelkern, a German journalist, puts this in a postcard to his wife/editor, who has sent him to Lake Lugano, Italy to write a 3,000 word piece on reclusive children’s book author Dirk Svensson. This conclusion comes to him after spending a lost weekend at Svensson’s ramshackle lakeside cottage, drinking Bombay gin by the glassful, smoking incessantly, lusting after Svensson’s lady-friend, Tulli, and watching Svensson’s three-legged dog, Lua, slowly die of old age.

Mandelkern lives an orderly life with his wife Elizabeth in Hamburg. She is his boss at work and at home - having insisted that he abandon his ethnology studies to work as a writer at her magazine. She is older than he is by five years and was married when they first got together. We see in flashbacks that she is sexually aggressive and dictatorial. At the outset of the novel, they have had an argument (possibly about having children) and he leaves for the assignment in Italy abruptly without settling things.

When Mandelkern arrives at Svensson’s place, the house is a shambles, the power is out and there is a mass of broken down furniture (including a smashed computer screen) piled in the front garden. Svensson is completely evasive, often leaving Daniel alone with Tulli, a visiting Finnish beauty from his past, and her young son. Early on, the stark contrast between Daniel’s very structured life and Dirk’s boho excesses had me expecting some sort of a Teutonic version of Zorba the Greek and, while this assessment isn’t entirely off the mark, Funeral for a Dog is much darker and more complex than that.

Working with only sparse notes, a copy of Svensson’s children’s story, The Story of Leo and the Notmuch, and without the author’s cooperation, Mandelkern is completely frustrated until he discovers a hidden manuscript written by Svensson which details his days in New York and South America with Tulli and their deceased friend, Felix Baumeister. In between bouts of covertly reading the memoir, Mandelkern draws on his training as an ethnologist (a sort of ethnic anthropologist) to blend into Svensson and Tulli’s lives in hopes of establishing an angle for the article that will satisfy his wife, but he actually comes away from the experience learning more about himself than Svensson. He realizes that a life cannot be summed up in 3,000 words, that people cannot be so neatly categorized, that things aren’t always as they seem and that life is a spiral; not a line.

* Warning: This book depicts scenes of animal cruelty - including a graphic cockfight, descriptions of how medics experimented on dogs in Vietnam and the amputation of Lua’s leg. Not for everyone.

[Vonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because the premise seemed so original, the style so imaginative, the story somewhat whimsical. Unfortunately, I found it mostly confusing. To begin with, the author's use of parentheses is more than excessive (on average, multiple times a paragraph and/or passage). Although useful every so often, it becomes much more distracting at this frequency.

Secondly, maybe it should have been obvious, but it would have been nice to know that every other chapter (phrase titles) is actually a completely different timeline, narrated by a different character. From what I now understand, it is the manuscript for Astroland, the children's book author Svensson's secret novel. It is in the present day story (dated titles), narrated by Daniel Mandelkern, that this manuscript is discovered. Mandelkern has been sent by his boss/wife to interview Svensson for an article at his home in Lake Lugano. Things are not as expected, as Svensson pretty much refuses to tell him anything of use, immediately invites him to stay several nights with him, & Mandelkern is left with what seems to be his family... Tuuli, a young, beautiful Finnish woman, Samuli, her son, & Lula, a three legged dog. He soon discovers that this woman is not even his wife; rather, a certain Kiki Kaufman is, whom is currently missing in action. Mandelkern eventually unravels the mystery surrounding the true history that makes Svensson who he is today. The most intriguing aspect of this history is the author's presentation of The Borromean Rings, the idea of three people needing both the other "rings" to survive. Useless by themselves, useless with only one other, they represent one of those magic tricks in which all three rings are needed for them to attach "magically". The three rings? Svensson, Tuuli, & recently dead Felix Blaumeiser.

Mandelkern's time there also serves another purpose, as much of his story is reflection on his (obviously) complex relationship with his wife Elizabeth. She essentially forced him into his current position as her staff writer, taking him from his PhD thesis, which he was writing at the time. Mandelkern is an anthropological ethnologist, which was actually one of my favorite things about this novel. His approach to narration, the investigation, daily life, as well as the insights he added because of his background in ethnology were unique & educational, providing a creative outlook on the story. By the end of his time on the lake, Mandelkern has learned some important things; he has had the all important time to consider things outside the box- integral to every relationship.

[Jason Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this through a Goodreads Giveaway!

Funeral for a Dog just might be unlike any other book. Though tough to follow at times, it was refreshing to read a story that is unpredictable and does not follow a linear pattern. Pletzinger's hipster style of writing may not be for everyone, but I was impressed. The journalistic style of Daniel Mandelkern's entires versus the drunken, stream-of-counciousness style of the eccentric Dirk Svensson's memoirs was an excellent contrast and no doubt required great talent to pull off.

The story is a sad one. Some of the more beautiful sequences in the book occur during the September 11th attacks. Pletzinger fills his characters with feelings of disillusionment, confusion, and fear as they see the parallels of their own lives falling apart while the world seems to be falling apart.

In one eloquent scene, just after the towers begin to crumble, three of the characters are watching the billows of smoke travel from downtown. One character says the smoke smells like "plastic, gasoline, fire, wet earth, and poverty."

If you enjoy books that are unique, unpredictable, and a bit eccentric, don't skip this one. Pletzinger is a writer to be watched.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different than anything I've ever read and it's sticking to me like the proverbial gum on the bottom of your shoe. One Goodreads reviewer said it was not a book to be read when you're feeling tired which I interpret to mean they had trouble following along with all the jump cutting and alternating narrators. My experience with the first 100 pages is that it merely made me feel tired because there just wasn't that much going on - vague longings, inability to communicate, sensation of being misunderstood - in other words, standard everyday fare. After parking my expectations, the book then grabbed me by the jugular as I recognized it as a treatise on the workings of the heart and mind. The stories we craft out of clay from a kernel of truth that enable us to overcome unbearable losses, that allow us to put one foot in front of the other. Stories that become our own personal truth regardless of facts; the vast differences/ discrepancies in stories told of the same events as if seen through a kaleidescope but still all true.

A powerful book with a brilliant translation by Ross Benjamin.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half-cute, half-tremendously sad study of love and friendship. Was annoyed most of the time spent reading this book, can't tell if it was because I was annoyed with the author's style (probably) or the fact his female characters are so flat and stereotypical I started questioning if the author had ever met a woman in real life (more likely). His male characters weren't much better. The three-legged dog is the best character. Blah.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome for all the reasons you've read about, but the first book with scenes set during 9/11 that I didn't want to fling out of the window in a rage

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book never quite clicked for me. I liked the set-up (reluctant journalist visits reclusive children's book author to write a profile), the locale (picturesque lake north of Milan), and Ross Benjamin's readable translation of Thomas Pletzinger's prose. But I never felt any real connection to the characters; least of all Daniel Mandelkern, the narrator. The book begins with him telling the reader about how he and his wife, who is also his boss at the magazine, are in the middle of a quarrel. My response to this, based on the story he shares, is that they should just break up. I felt no deeper connection between them that needed to be saved. Frankly, they sounded like they'd be better off without each other. And yet this is clearly not how the reader is supposed to feel, based on the story's direction.

Likewise, the subject of Mandelkern's profile, Dirk Svensson, is presented as a mystery but isn't interesting enough for me to want to learn about the underlying pain that clearly fueled his melancholy book and its surprise success.

While staying at Svensson's house on Lake Lugano, Mandelkern finds an autobiographical manuscript that Svensson's been working on, which tells the story of Svensson, his absent best friend, Felix, a woman named Tuuli, and a dog named Lua. First, Svensson and Felix, with their friend Kiki, are in New York City during 9/11. Earlier, Svensson and Felix met Tuuli as Peace Corps-esque volunteers in Seraverde, Brazil. This was by far the most vivid section, and looking back through the book I was surprised to see that it's so short--because I remember it as lasting for several more pages than it actually does. It's a shame Pletzinger hadn't developed this part of his story more fully. Perhaps I would have been more engaged with the material.

The rest is interpersonal drama. Mandelkern half-heartedly attempts, but fails, to meaningfully interview Svensson several times, gets drunk, and crushes on Tuuli, who showed up (with her young son, Samy) at Svensson's house on the same day as Mandelkern. He wonders what their relationship is, ponders his relationship with is wife, and just generally shuffles around the lake house for four days. Then Svensson's wife, Kiki, returns. Meanwhile, Lua, the three-legged dog, is sick, and we learn his story as well.

There's a lot of rich material here, but it remains unconnected in my opinion. I enjoyed pieces of the book, but those pieces never combined into a greater whole for me. I can recognize a good story hiding among the pages, but it didn't work for me.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would never have read this book if my lovely friend Oscar had not gifted it to me. Upon first glance it falls into the category of “books about men moping around” - a category I generally find difficult to relate to. I pushed through because Oscar had a penchant for beautiful things and I figured if it was worthy of gifting, there must be something about it.

The writing style is so unique and interesting, obviously the work of the author, but it is attributed to the main character’s training as an ethnologist. He absorbs every detail, useful or not, and through his descriptions we are able to visualize circumstance and personhood in a very special and unique way. As an ethnologist turned journalist, the main character often describes the difficulty in balancing personal and professional life, and internal moral struggles with participant observation. Writing from an ethnologist’s perspective also allows for a fortification of symbolism. These little details do not feel random, but are rather significant. For example, whether the main character should choose to be with the woman who wears the golden hair pin, or the brass one. Perhaps I read into this too much, but a small detail like the hair pins reminds us of who these women are in relation to each other.

The other special thing about this book is of course the Borromean Ring idea. Three rings that cannot be unlinked, but when one breaks, the other two can no longer stay together. The author has further differentiated the rings (the three characters) in the value they ascribe to periods of time: Svensson values the past, Felix the present, and Tuuli the future. That is why after Felix’s death, Tuuli and Svensson repel each other. Mandelkern on the other hand must decide between the present (to let himself go with Tuuli) or the future (with Elizabeth). In observing this former throuple, Svensson is able to decide in what realm of time he wants to dwell: past, present, or future. At some point Mandelkern says something like “some people move forward from the past while others dwell in its ruins.”

Both sad and beautiful things happen to everyone. This book is essentially about whether we choose to move forward - to find beauty again even though we know that at some point pain is inevitable, or to look to preserve our past joys as a means of distracting ourselves from impending hurt.

[Allan MacDonell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sharply intuitive deduction from a very enjoyable reading of Thomas Pletzinger’s Funeral for a Dog is that Pletzinger loves Roberto Bolaño as much as I do, and he’s written a book (this book) propelled by that affection and other affections that is almost as lovable as the great Bolaño himself.

[Mlle Enteramine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denke ich an dieses Buch, ist mir, als würde man real erlebte Erinnerung zurückspulen. Ich las es im Liegen, Sitzen, Stehen und Gehen. Außerdem ruhte ich nicht, bevor ich auch die letzte Seite restlos verspeist hatte. Ein in struktureller, stilistischer, sprachlicher und inhaltlicher Hinsicht großartiges Buch.

[Uriel Aceves · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book actually, but I couldn't have cared less about the main character, so gray and uninteresting. In a way all characters where flat, you can basically describe them with two or three adjectives and it would be more than enough

[Julebu · Rating 5 out of 5]

will ich direkt wieder lesen. jedes wort genau gesetzt u gebraucht. wirkt trotz so viel leid u Geschehnissen komischerweise nicht überfrachtet. ein kleines juwel

[Angela Mancino · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to read this book. Just couldn't connect. I abandoned my reading.

[Friederike Knabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Pletzinger has been making waves with his debut novel, FUNERAL FOR A DOG, both in his home country, Germany, and now internationally. Presenting his novel in an intriguing structure, Pletzinger introduces two distinct narrators who spin their inner and outer stories almost like a dance between them. One often writes in short vignette-type memory snippets with indicative titles ("My titles, my filing drawers") and reminder hooks in brackets , the other writes fluidly and expansively, like a born storyteller. At times the two narrative streams come close together, overlapping in dialogs. They also move with ease between past and present, linking the present events at Lake Lugano (Switzerland) with Brazil, New York or Hamburg... Taken together the novel is a thought provoking read: it explores intimate human relationships through time, while also inviting the reader to join the protagonists' reflections on identity and love, memory, truth and fiction, and, as the title intimates, death and loss.

Opening his novel with Daniel Mandelkern sending seven postcards and "a pile of papers, 345 pages" to "My dear Elizabeth", Pletzinger provides us immediately with a glimpse into what is to come. Each postcard, depicting a vista Daniel has seen or a place he has visited, contains one paragraph that ends abruptly, only to be continued on the next card. The postcards are written five days after Daniel had left his home in a huff, following an argument with his wife and boss, Elizabeth. He had reluctantly accepted a job to write a portrait of the reclusive author, Dirk Svensson, and who happens to be living on an island in Lake Lugano... and events take place over five days at the lake. Yet, these five days seem to Daniel also like a lifetime as he feels "dropping out of time". His preoccupations constantly fluctuate between what he has left unresolved in Hamburg and his need to "get behind" the character of Svensson.

In alternating sections, Svensson tells his story, primarily taken from a hidden manuscript that Daniel secretly studies. But, is he really recording what happened to him and his friends or has he "written himself into a story"? Daniel, ethnologist by profession, uses all the techniques of his training to unravel the complex character that Svensson portrays of himself. Not very successful in his attempts to put questions to the writer directly he interviews other guests or locals, especially the beautiful Tuuli who, like he, arrived at the Lake with her son Samy. Tuuli, in her attempts to be helpful, leaves Daniel with more questions and riddles: "For him [Svensson] his life's story has evolved into a sort of novel, possibly to a roman à clef. The story is set in Europe, North- and South America, Svensson's characters have all opportunities and no obligations, they are always on the move, tourists searching for some kind of home (Heimwehtouristen). " In "Astroland", the manuscript, another friend's name appears: Felix and also the dog 'Lula'. Daniel finds himself increasingly in the role of a detective, going about his task by piecing together what he observes - what IS the relationship between Tuuli and Dirk? - and what he finds in his study of Astroland.

Pletzinger is a master at introducing concepts into dialog that slow the reading down as we reflect on their application. For example, by way of clarifying the past, Tuuli introduces the concept of "Borromean rings": interlocking circles in which each is connected to only one other. If one is lost, or breaks out, the other two lose their connection as well. When applied to human relationships, the metaphor is more than apt and more frequent in the context of the novel...

Or he lets Daniel (and us) question the ratio between truth and fiction: "The stories [Svensson's] are one third truth, one third figments of imagination and one third the attempt to glue the other two together with words."

Pletzinger has a very strong sense of place. His description especially of the environs of Lake Lugano are very evocative. In his approach to writing Daniel he credits his reading of Max Frisch's Montauk in particular. I don't want to give away details of what actually emerges about the lives of all three primary characters and the dog. It is very engaging to literally piece together (following Daniel) the intricate net of relationships and depth of characters. The death of the dog Lua, being foretold in the title, plays an increasing role for the group at the lake and opens up the potential for new beginnings. Having read the novel in its original German, Iall translations are mine.

[Darin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continent-hopping road trip through memory, grief, love and loss, Thomas Pletzinger's debut novel lives up to the hype as it is translated into English for the first time. Would-be-journalist Daniel Mandelkern is sent by his editor, and wife, Elizabeth, to interview reclusive children's author Svensson, who has recently published a bestselling children's book called Leo and the Notmuch. Along the way, he stumbles upon a hidden manuscript of Svensson's and the book switches back and forth between excerpts of the manuscript and Mandelkern's attempts to make sense of both his subject and his own life.

Mandelkern is an ethnologist by training, having been studying towards a graduate degree in the field. He continually blurs the line between journalistic objectivism and ethnological observation, which includes being absorbed into the ethnos being studied. And an ethnos it is: Svensson meets a young woman and her child, apparently people he knows, at the same time as he meets Mandelkern for their appointment. They continue to spend the next several days together, along with Svensson's dog Lua and other visitors who slowly converge upon the secluded ruin where he lives. Along the way, the Mandelkern discovers that Svensson, the woman and another man, now dead, had been involved in a love triangle. Mandelkern begins to doubt his romantic entanglement with his wife and boss.

Pletzinger is clearly enjoying toying with the reader through the novel's inventive device of a book within a book and slowly revealing the motivations of his characters piecemeal, which in turns colors the reader's perception of Mandelkern. Throw in a timeline which spans the mid 1990s to mid 2000s, the events of 9/11, charity work in Brazil and sumptuous descriptions of food in Italy and there's enough going on here to maintain attention.

The book is by no means an easy read and in this case, the dizziness caused to the reader is a reflection of that experienced by Mandelkern, thus placing the reader further inside the psychology of the narrator. When Mandelkern is interviewing an artist who states, "Photos never show what you want to see. For that you need your own paints and your own brush," (p.273) the reader can truly appreciate the picture Pletzinger has painted. Show, don't tell, has rarely been more elegantly evinced than in Funeral for a Dog. Recommended for readers who love challenges looking for offbeat stories of love and loss with an artistic bent.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-Journalist Daniel Mandelkern wird von seinem Herausgeber, und Frau, Elizabeth, geschickt, um Kinderbuchautor Svensson interviewen. Auf dem Weg, stößt er auf eine verborgene Handschrift des Svensson und das Buch schaltet hin und her zwischen Auszüge des Manuskripts und Mandelkern Versuche zur Sinn sowohl sein Thema und sein eigenes Leben zu machen. Das sagte, war dieses Buch für mich absolut schwierig, weil Deutsch nicht einfach war und der Autor Schaltzeiten und Person jedes Kapitel wechseln, aber das ist nicht so klar in den Anfang und auch am Ende. Seltsame Buch, das ich bin sicher, würde ich es mehr begrüßen, wenn ich es in meiner Muttersprache las.

Almost-a-journalist Daniel Mandelkern is sent by his editor, and wife, Elizabeth, to interview children's author Svensson. Along the way, he stumbles upon a hidden manuscript of Svensson's and the book switches back and forth between excerpts of the manuscript and Mandelkern while trying to find a meaning of both Svensson and his own life. That said, this book was for me absolutely difficult because Germany was not easy and the author switch times and person every chapter, but that is not so clear in the beginning and also in the end. Strange book that I'm sure I would appreciate more if I read it in my mother tongue.

Il quasi-giornalista Daniel Mandelkern viene inviato dal suo editore, e moglie Elizabeth, ad intervistare l'autore per bambini Svensson. Lungo la strada, si imbatte in un manoscritto nascosto di Svensson e il libro alterna i brani del manoscritto e l'articolo di Mandelkern durante il suo tentativo di trovare un senso sia alla vita di Svensson che alla sua. Ciò detto, questo libro è stato per me assolutamente difficile, perché il tedesco non era facile e l'autore cambia epoca e personaggio parlante ad ogni capitolo, ma che non è così chiaro all'inizio e neanche alla fine. Strano libro che sono sicuro avrei apprezzato di più se l'avessi letto in italiano.

[Victor Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel appears on the Fiction Longlist for the 2012 Fifth Annual Best Translated Book Awards, chosen by Three Percent, an online resource for international literature at the University of Rochester (of which I am an alumnus). I liked the novel but was somewhat put-off by the structure, which unnecessarily rearranges the narrative into non-chronological pieces.

The underlying stories are somewhat simple: a magazine editor assigns a journalist to interview the author of a very popular children's book. The journalist, who is also the editor's husband, does not want the assignment but goes to meet the children's book author, Svensson, at a lakeside house on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The assignment, which should have taken only a few hours, lasts several days, during which the journalist, Daniel, spends his time living in the author's house, meeting his friends, his live-in girlfriend and their child, and Svensson's former lover and her child. The former lover, Tuuli, and Svensson's life-long friend, Felix, who died two years ago, were once a conjugal threesome -- while volunteers in a Brazilian ghetto, in New York City at the time of the 9/11 attack, and in a remote city in Finland. The threesome split up when Tuuli gave birth to a child. Ironically, the importance of the dog, Lua, whose death and funeral conclude the stay at Svensson's house is secondary.

Svensson's life story and Daniel's life story are somewhat similar, however, and Daniel's stay with Svensson causes him to reassess his relationship with his own wife, Elisabeth, and to reassert his individuality. Daniel also emerges as more than a neutral observer in Svensson's life. The accomplishment of these transformations makes the novel worthwhile, in my opinion, as the meshing of the separate stories into one book is handled with subtlety and a touch of misdirection.

[Featherbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

German writer Thomas Pletzinger and his translator Ross Benjamin achieve remarkable success with this first novel told by an ethnologist acting as a journalist who seeks to interview a reclusive children’s author living on Lake Lugano in Italy. Three stories are told, the first in New York on September 11th, next at the lakeside vacation home, and earlier in NE Brazil where the three protagonists meet and find Lua, the dog of the title, plus bits in Finland and Germany. The book is about memory and time and the truth of overlapping events recorded by the players and by the ethnologist who strives and fails to “maintain distance” and record the story as he ponders his own life choices. The structure is challenging, densely written, short chapters going back and forth between narrators and time periods. It is difficult to distinguish the characters from each other at first, but within the first quarter of the book, it became easier to identify the who and the where and give oneself over to the story. The women seem the stronger characters while the men flail restlessly between drinking bouts and trying to find the truth about their feelings through their writing or avoiding it in activity. “Writing cannot produce truth.” [As the author pitches his adult novel overboard, I think of Hemingway’s missing manuscript left on the train by first wife, Hadley.] The detail is noticeable and meticulous in producing the quiet strength of this absorbing book.

[Jacob Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a used book I got and did not know what to expect. As I read this novel I slowly started to get into it. By the time I was halfway through this book, I found myself picking it up often to read it. Although the ending did not blow me away the stories in this novel were very entertaining, fun, interesting and just enjoyable.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I completely understand all the nuance of what happened in this novel, but I had a great time reading it!!! It's a novel with 2 narrators - Dirk Svensson, a reclusive children's book author de jour living on Lake Lugano, and Daniel Mandelkern, who travels there to interview him for a newspaper assignment given to him by his wife/boss. Svensson's narration covers the backstory of himself, a woman named Tuuli (who Daniel discovers lives with Svensson in Lugano), their friend Felix, and a 3-legged dog, Lua. Mandelkern's narration covers his trip to Lugano and subsequent attempt to extract useful (for his article) information about Svensson from the man himself and the tight circle around him, while simultaneously reflecting on the life he has left behind in Germany, its present and history. At times the read was a bit grotesque (how Lua came to be 3 legged), which I could've done without, but otherwise, an interesting and quirky read from an author I look forward to reading more from.

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel Mandelkorn is an anthropologist, working as a journalist, who is sent by his editor and partner to interview Svensson, the reclusive author of a popular children's book. Daniel and Elizabeth are having problems, mostly because she wants children and he isn't ready and he leaves their apartment after a quarrel. Arriving in Italy, he meets the eccentric writer as well as a beautiful Finnish woman and her young son, who are attached to Svensson in some way.

The book moves between Mandelkorn's increasingly haphazard attempts to complete his assignment, the history of his marriage and the odd and colorful past of Svensson, the Finnish doctor, Tuuli, their friend Felix and Lua, a large German Shepard with only three legs.

There's a stream of consciousness quality to the flow of the story, with the characters often under the influence of various substances, giving the book an old-fashioned beat-like feel. Funeral for a Dog veered wildly from the entertaining to the profound to reading like someone's tiresome dream sequence.

[Steffi Iron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Pletzinger schreibt seinen Debütroman mit einem unheimlich guten Rhythmus, einer verwobenen Erzähldichte und das noch mit einem ausgesprochenen ausgefeilten Sprachstil. Es gibt Szenen, die sind so gut getaktet, dass man die Bewegung, die Hektik, die überstürzenden Ereignisse fast körperlich spürt. Man ist außerdem sofort drin in der der Story, man muss dran bleiben, ist gefangen in der Geschichte und den beiden Hauptfiguren: Daniel Mandelkern (Journalist) und später auch in Svenssons Welt (Autor). Der Roman spielt im Hamburg, New York, Brasilien und Lugano. Die Lebenswege der beiden Männer sind unterschiedlich, aber doch gleich? Die „Daniel Mandelkern“ Passagen sind oft mit einer Frage übertitelt, man bekommt sein Hadern mit sich, das Gefühlschaos durch Selbstbefragung dargestellt. Beide Männer sind auf der Suche nach einem inneren zu Hause, nach ihrer Berufung. Und auch der dreibeinige Hund spielt eine ganz besondere Rolle. Für mich das beste Buch seit langem.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lives of two German men, a reclusive writer turned children's book author and an ethnologist turned journalist, collide when the journalist travels to Italy to interview the author for a 3000 word profile. The story alternates between the ethnologist's notes and the author's unpublished biographical novel and dips in and out of their unusual present and complicated pasts. Circling around them are three women, two children, a dead friend, and an old black dog with three legs. The women are all mysterious and strong and confident, while the men are all at loose ends, but that doesn't bother me as much with this book as it has with some others. This English translation from the original German is smooth and readable, and has an experimental and melancholy tone that works well with the subject matter.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm debating between 3 and 4 stars for this one...I'd give it a 3.5 overall. Got this free from Goodreads giveaways!

This was a tough book to get into. The writing style was difficult to understand at the beginning, but once I started to understand his observations and nuances, I definitely liked it more. The book is actually 3 stories in one, which coupled with the different writing style really turned me off in the beginning. But again, once I got used to the characters and the pattern of the stories, it was much easier to comprehend.

The stories of (1) Svensson, Felix, and Tuuli, (2) Mandelkern, Svensson, and Tuuli, and (3) Mandelkern and Elizabeth were intiguing and I enjoyed them...I finished the book and wanted more.

[Rose Gowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good. I wish I had not read it immediately after reading a huge masterpiece. It is too bad that it has some elements in common with A Book of Memories, the huge masterpiece (Germans, a love triangle, turning life into art via writing, two intertwined stories).

So, though I was not the best reader for this book at the time that I read it, I say it is a good book. Of the two intertwined stories, one (the story of the love triangle) is more interesting than the other (a journalist tries to decide if he is ready to have a child with his wife)-- but still, it moves. Pletzinger writes particularly well about 9/11 in New York.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am disappointed to state that I didn't finish this First Reads book. Perhaps it is just too experimental for my taste but 110 pages into the book I found I didn't have the heart to keep reading.

I cringe to think that I am not open-minded or bright enough for this prize-winning debut that has been called "rigorously intellectual." I missed the smart part and got trapped in the dreary, "where's this going" part.

As a reader, I like to be challenged by a book. And, I also like to be pulled out of my comfort zone but this somehow moved me into a discomfort zone. Next stop, back to E.F. Benson and a little caustic domestic humor.

[Audrey Foreman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from GoodReads First Reads.

This book illustrates how the lives of 2 men intersect - a children's author, and an ethnologist (cultural anthropologist) who is currently working as a freelance journalist. The journalist travels to Italy to write a 3000 word essay on the reclusive author.

One thing about this book that I wasn't thrilled with was the bouncing plot line - it traveled from the present, to the past - of both main characters. It was a bit easier to follow than some stories that do so, but still not something I personally enjoyed.

A story of strong, mysterious women, and lost men, Funeral for a Dog was quite an enjoyable read.