“The future is a stupid jerk,” I said. “You never know what it’s going to throw at you next!”
A book that’s like a high: you need 48 hours; the drug is called Sven Regener. At the starting line: a handful of pretty crazy techno freaks. And at the wheel: Karl Schmidt, Frank Lehmann’s best friend.
Years after Karl Schmidt suffered a nervous breakdown and disappeared into depression on the day the Berlin Wall came down, his old pals stumble across him living in a rehab facility, which leads to an unusual collaboration. His old friends, who have achieved fame and fortune in the meantime, want to take their record label on tour in Germany to try to reconcile 90s rave culture with the hippie spirit of the 60s, and they need someone who will stay sober the whole time. This suits Karl Schmidt just fine since he’s no longer interested in immersing himself in a parallel world of drug-using roommates, the role of assistant caretaker, and weekend trips ruled by group dynamics.
And so begins a journey through a country and period in transition, undertaken by a handful of techno freaks and supervised by a psychologically fragile former artist, for whom this is supposed to be the path that leads him back to an independent life.
“As wilfully detached, witty, endearing and deadpan comic as its loafer protagonist” Big Issue (on Berlin Blues)
“Regener has captured absolutely the lifestyles and conversations of a group of pre-fall-of-the-Wall Berlin friends.” Time Out (on Berlin Blues)
