Love, Grief and Revenge – A German Saga
Feridun Zaimoglu has turned his attention to a region that couldn’t be more German – the Ruhr Valley: an industrial wasteland transforming itself into a service industry region. The area is in upheaval and so too is the hero of the story.
Rentz has been a doctor in what seems like a far away life – when his wife was murdered by a burglar, his world has fallen apart. Since then he has helped out his father-in-law running a kiosk in the heart of Duisburg, taking care of the daily business concerning the drinkers and the loafers, grieving over his wife and seeking revenge. His life gets a kick start when he is contracted to escort a disturbed young man from Warsaw to the Ruhr Valley. Back home he falls in love with the waitress Marja, but his past catches up with him. He learns that his wife´s murderer has been released from prison – and Rentz is hot on his heels.
A kiosk in Duisburg is the starting point for this dynamic story which takes the hero Rentz through the Ruhr Valley, to Warsaw and back to Duisburg.
Zaimoglu tests how much love and sorrow a man, who has hardly anything left in life to cling to, can take and sets it against the backdrop of a world that is steeped in a long tradition and is reinventing itself.
