In her second novel, Annika Büsing takes us on a fast-paced journey. To Leipzig, the flooded Ahr valley, a town on the Baltic Sea – a short trip turns into a road trip.
The adjective “nice” as a description of a book needn’t be a put down. Nor is “really nice!” – what counts is the intonation and enthusiasm in the voice. For me, Koller wasn’t just really nice, but also a “feel-good” book. But to understand what I mean, you have to read it, which I strongly advise. By “feel-good book,” I also don’t mean sappy or full of shallow bliss with no problems addressed. For it’s clear that Annika Büsing’s books – her successful debut Nordstadt (2022) and this new novel – don’t belong in that category. When you finish Koller and put it down, you may want to accept the final sentence for yourself and simply surrender to your positive feeling.
Deep inner lives
Although the start is a tad rough, the book gets good quite quickly, until the surprising ending. It’s about two people, Chris and Koller, one shy, the other untamed. Both have some baggage to carry. Annika Büsing presents their complicated inner lives quite skilfully. The two of them zip through Germany together and experience a lot of exciting things, intimate things, even though they’ve only just met. Because of the risk of learning too much in advance, it would be much better to get to know the book on your own, without a review. But now that you’re here, you might as well keep reading.Never what’s expected...
Without spoiling too much: Chris and Koller drive in an old Polo from Leipzig to the flooded Ahr valley, where they’re urgently looking for someone during the – actual – flooding of whole towns in 2021. Actually, their destination is the Baltic Sea and Koller is supposed to get married any day now. We get to know some very well-described people who play important parts in the lives of the two characters. The power of love plays a big role in the story throughout. And everything could have happened exactly this way. Annika Büsing’s language is direct, catchy, smooth, the dialogues authentic, profound and the story more exciting than many a thriller. The journey is fast-paced and witty:We were speeding towards a village. “You can’t speed through the village at a hundred and forty!” I shouted.
Koller looked in the rear-view mirror.
“There aren’t many other options.”
I folded my hands in prayer. Dear God, please don’t let us run over any children, chickens, or pigs. [...] Anyone else would have slowed down. Wouldn’t they have? You would have raced through Niederschmutzing, too, you say? Not me.
Koller looked in the rear-view mirror.
“There aren’t many other options.”
I folded my hands in prayer. Dear God, please don’t let us run over any children, chickens, or pigs. [...] Anyone else would have slowed down. Wouldn’t they have? You would have raced through Niederschmutzing, too, you say? Not me.
What awaits them at the end of their journey to the Baltic Sea, what Koller inherited from his grandmother, and which of the koi carp there is named Dean Martin is something you can each find out for yourselves.
Annika Büsing: Koller
Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. 176 p.
ISBN: 978-3-96999-196-1
You can find this title in our eLibrary Onleihe.
June 2023