German / Germany
Die Nacht so groß wie wir. Roman
(The night as big as us. Novel)
Jäger, Sarah
(text)
Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2021. – 187 p.
(Series: rowohlt rotfuchs)
ISBN 978-3-499-00574-9
School | Graduation | New beginning | Future | Past | Coming of age
Reading age: 14+
White Ravens issue: 2022
»From now on, nothing is certain anymore.« Suse, Pavlow, Maja, Tolga, and Bo have been close friends forever, but now it’s here, the very last day of school. A turning point. Memories are mixed with expectations. Everything seems possible, even the impossible, the unthinkable, the unwanted. A night of rare intensity, interspersed with secrets, longings, and injuries awaits the teens. In this novel, all five of them tell their stories, with the tone alternating between wordly-wise, merciless, exuberant, and laconic. The multi-perspective narration gives shape to each individual and, at the same time, illuminates the network of relationships among them. The readers, too, become part of the friends’ scheme, as they are drawn into the whirlpool of thoughts and feelings – whether they want to or not. Sarah Jäger follows up her amazing literary debut »Nach vorn, nach Süden« (Forward, to the south), with a second book of equal quality: »Die Nacht so groß wie wir« is a magnificent coming-of-age novel. [IG]