Read the video transcript here
Elke Heidenreich, author and reviewer
About ten years ago I presented a book by an Irish author called Gerard Donovan. He looks like it. It might be interesting to see what people look like. And the book was called Winter in Maine. I discussed that at the time. And then of course it became a world best seller. No, I was very impressed by the book. I would like to show you here, but it is like many of my books. Apparently I gave it away or loaned it out. I haven't found it anymore. The book was about a man named Julius Winsome.
He lived alone in Maine, in a remote forest house, with his dog. He's had a pretty difficult life, completely withdrawn and one day someone shoots his dog. And then he freaks out. He takes his rifle and runs amok, so to speak, looking for whoever did this to him. That was a very shattering and very good novel about loneliness, about grief, loss and what that might do to a person, without any moral judgment. And since then I haven't got the name Gerard Donovan out of my head.
And now he's written a new book, which came out in October, called "Into the Arms of the Flood." In the original "The dead lit faintly", "The dead shine faintly." I almost like the title better. Bit mysterious, takes place again in Maine, in a godforsaken place called Ross Point. And that's not a pleasant city either. The people are bad, the city is in decline, everyone is in a bad mood. It's our Trump City, that's how you kind of imagine it. And the protagonist is called Luke Roy. He's in his late thirties. He lives at this Ross Point and he's not a happy person. There have been many misfortunes in his life. When he was just barely grown up, his parents simply went out into the world with a caravan, with a boat and left him alone.
And he has had a vague longing for death since childhood. You can't call it depression. It really is a death wish. And he also has such a near-death experience. He fell off the raft once on a boat trip with friends and none of the friends noticed. So nobody notices when Luke is no longer there. It starts there and he fell deep into a pond and got caught in the creepers. By the time they finally noticed that he was gone and someone dived after him and helped him free himself, he was almost dead and since then death has been a magical attraction for him. Somehow he doesn't see any meaning in his life. Somehow he wants to die. And now in his place at this hideous Ross Point there is a huge bridge, 35 meters high, over a river,the vortex has and rocks and is very dangerous and has already lured 54 suicides to their death who jumped under it.
And one day he is ready and thinks, "I can't anymore, I don't want to." He sits on the railing, he climbs over the railing, holds on to the back and thinks about it, and then he doesn't jump, he goes back again on the bridge, go a little further and suddenly hear screams. He looks down and sees a boat overturning in this river. And a child in a red jacket falls out of the boat and swims towards these whirlpools, where you know that if it gets there, it will no longer be able to be saved.
And what is Luke doing? Turn around and really jump now, a death jump, he has thought it often enough, he dares. Nobody else would have done it. He jumps down and it turns out well. He gets hold of the child. He and the child will be saved. So, and now, of course, the next day it has seven million clicks. That said, he's a hero now. His whole life changes, the world wants to see him. The mayor comes and wants to be photographed with him for the next election. He no longer has a life of his own. And now comes the mean: a colleague filmed it, he just had a new camera and happened to film it. And he is now selling the part to the TV station beforehand, as you can see when he steps over the railing and you see that he wants to commit suicide. And immediately the mood changes.
Now everyone hates him. He's not a hero at all. He's just pretending to have called himself a hero. He really wanted to commit suicide and they hate him. They throw stones at him, they set fire to his boat on which he lives. And you can just see here what the network is doing to people and that you cannot be online in these times. And then this guy sells the second part of his film, where you can see Luc running back and really jumping because of the child. And now he's a hero again. That is, there are alternating baths of hysteria and know-it-all. And and that makes you very thoughtful when you see that.
And what about the child? Paul is the name of the child. Is the child grateful, does the child have grateful parents? I would be giving too much away now if I told you that. It's just that the whole thing doesn't turn out well and it's written in a very, very interesting way. A protagonist once asks: "Am I crazy or is the world crazy?" I think the world is turning the wheel with this horrific social media that everybody is getting crazy and that you can only buy sweaters like this: Look times! Then I bought it. So, everyone in this book has a crack and the world has a crack. And that reminded me of a book by Roger Willemsen that he wrote 14 years ago and published by Fischer. "Knacks" it says, we think of Leonard Cohen, "There's a crack in everything, that 's how the light is going in. "
So there is a crack everywhere and that's how the light comes in. What does damage do to you? Roger Willemsen writes »When did you not become what you could have become? When did you give up hoping for some things? What an ominous development did the crack do to a person? Back then, social media was not as strong as it is today. But Willemsen already suspected that the culture of restlessness has anesthetic side - anesthesia, anesthesia. That is, it wastes a certain empathy and sensitivity. It gets more brutal and the shamelessness grows. Literature is there to be felt and told early enough. And that is what Gerard Donovan does in this amazing and impressive book "Into the Arms of the Flood". And now we put ourselves in the arms of the Spiegel bestseller list ...
SPIEGEL bestseller:
In tenth place it is very Christmas - in the Allgäu dialect, in "Tomorrow, Klufti, there will be something" by the author duo Volker Klüpfel and Michael Kobr.
The stories about Commissioner Kluftinger have been in the top ten for weeks, this time relegated by one place.
Also down one place from the previous week's placement: Kerstin Gier's prelude to a planned trilogy, »Forget-me-not.
What you can't see in the light «.
The fantasy novel about young love lands on the nine.
Actor Edgar Selge has gone from seventh to eighth with his autobiographical book »Did you finally find us«.
In it, the stage star tells of a childhood as the son of a prison director - and of severe strokes of fate.
The downward triple cycle is the trend of the week: The lawyer Bernhard Schlink steps from six to seven with "The Granddaughter".
The novel is about a search for clues: after the sudden death of his wife, bookseller Wettner finds clues about the existence of a daughter about whom he previously knew nothing.
And - how should it be otherwise?
- Also drugstore king Dirk Rossmann and his co-author Ralf Hoppe descend one place on the list: The climate crisis thriller "The Wrath of the Octopus" lands on the six.
Correspondingly, the previous week's four go down to five: Ken Follett with »Never.
The final decision «.
The Brit with a penchant for bestsellers presents a lot of global crises in his new thriller, as well as the first US President Pauline Green - who at least wants to prevent an unnecessary war.
The Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen puts down a relegation variant of TWO places: the detective Carl Mørck has to clear up a cold case - and then there is Corona.
“Sodium Chloride” in fourth place this week.
In return, Sebastian Fitzek and his media crossover novel »Playlist« persist on the three.
In addition to the book, the crime writer also offers a music album and an online game - for all those for whom reading is not enough.
Crime queen Nele Neuhaus is again investigating in the Taunus with "In Eternal Friendship" and lands in second place.
This time, Commissioner Pia Sander and her boss Oliver von Bodenstein are appropriately in the literature business, looking for the missing program manager of a publishing house.
In return, a new entry made it to the top this week: "Swarming a Thousand Bees" is the name of the ninth volume in the time travel series "Outlander", which has sold millions of times.
This time author Diana Gabaldon lets her protagonists Claire and Jamie Fraser fight for their love in the midst of the American War of Independence.
At least on the bestseller list with success.
