Is his father terminally ill? Is he seeing a lover? Or is he actually an ex-secret agent? Is his family falling apart, or is Georg, whom his loved ones call Juri, just putting it all together?
A road trip into paranoia begins for the protagonist of Stefan Sommer’s debut novel “Trabant” when he receives a text message from his father that was not intended for him. In order to be at the Munich airport the next morning, where his father is meeting a woman named Lisa, he rushes off in his old Opel Corsa – shortly before his best friend’s wedding in Istria.
Juri’s stream of thoughts during the car ride forms the backbone of this furious coming-of-age story in which flashbacks, attempts at biographical interpretation and primal human fears flow together. The compellingly condensed novel revolves around the question: Are my parents who I thought they were?
Stefan Sommer, born in 1989, is an award-winning journalist South German newspaper and from SZ Now. The book premiere in Munich fits perfectly with the literary glide through the night: In the Goldener Reiter Club, people first read and talk about the book, for which the Free State of Bavaria has received the literary scholarship “Young Art and New Paths” in summer 2021. Afterwards, DJs from the “Ritual:Digital” collective will play. A reading with house and techno until 5 a.m. – that might be pretty unique in Munich.
Stefan Sommer: Trabant, Book premiere with party, Friday, February 23rd, 8 p.m., Goldener Reiter, Theklastrasse 1; further reading: Puns, Wednesday, March 13, 8 p.m., AmpZellstrasse 4