Der Vogel, der spazieren ging

Martin Kluger
„Der Vogel, der spazieren ging" - "The Bird that Went for a Walk"

“Kluger’s texts are rich, not only world-comprising, playful, you want to read them out loud or listen to them being read out loud; they have a drive, accelerating, once galloping, once parading, brilliant, alliterating. These narrations glimmer and shine.”
FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU

"Comical, ironical, sentimental - it is so nice to be dragged into this wild frenzy."
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

A crazy family history between grandfather, son and grand-daughter; global, full of Jewish humour and old secrets.

Samuel Leiser is a lonely bird. His father Yehuda escaped the Nazis by pretending to be an author; thus he was able to go to America as an artist an to become the celebrated crime writer Jonathan Still. Now Samuel translates his books into German. Between the lines he seeks and finds hidden messages. But what do they mean? During a summer in the early 70s, Samuel’s premature daughter Ashley comes from London to Paris to get to know him closer. Soon it’s getting crowded in his small flat: Samuel’s Uruguayan ex-wife comes to visit with her father and her new boyfriend. Passing travellers stay longer than expected, the rooms are filled with people, in the end even Yehuda and his gangster-relatives are approaching. Samuel can’t even escape this tumultuous family reunion between marriage vows and jealousy dramas by falling in love with his Spanish teacher. It’s not only the people in his life to assail him but also their stories and inherited nightmares – right up to the rousing finale.

Martin Kluger tells a story about love that encompasses three generations: a melancholic-ironic Comédie humaine.