Fiction | Fiction
Apostoloff
Sibylle Lewitscharoff
In Sibylle Lewitscharoff’s “Apostoloff” – a novel laden with linguistic wit and black humor – two sisters travel to Sofia, in a convoy of luxury limousines arranged by a fellow Bulgarian exile, to bury their less-than-beloved father. Like tourists, they are chauffeured by the ever-charming Ruben Apostoloff. In a caustic voice, Apostoloff shows them the treasures of his beloved country. But his attempts to win them over seem doomed to fail, as the sisters’ Bulgarian heritage is a heavy burden – their father, a successful doctor and melancholic emigrant, appears in their dreams still dragging the rope with which he hanged himself.
German original title
Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp Verlag 2009
248 pages