Logo Diogenes Verlag
Bernhard Schlink | Das Wochenende | English Title: The Weekend<br>Novel, 240 Pages

Novel, Hardcover
240 Pages
Published in March 2008

ISBN 978-3-257-06633-3

remember Dummy for Okay-Icon print

Bernhard Schlink
Das Wochenende

English Title: The Weekend

After twenty years in prison, he is unexpectedly pardoned. Christiane, his sister, wants to celebrate his first weekend of freedom with a dozen old friends in a run-down villa in the country, without reporters and cameras. Henner, a journalist, Ilse, a teacher, Ulrich, a businessman, accompanied by his wife and daughter, Karin, the bishop of a small country church, Andreas, an attorney – they all supported the revolution in one form or another at that time. Today, they have their established place in bourgeois society. They come out of loyalty, nostalgia, curiosity. They would like to advise and help and, at the same time, keep their distance. But they are not able to avoid a confrontation with their own biographies, life dreams and lies. The past comes to life. Accounts are settled in the atmospheric intensity of a drawing room theatre. ›The Weekend‹ is sold to: France (Gallimard) Spain (Anagrama) Netherlands (Cossée) Italy (Garzanti) Finland (Söderström) Greece (Kritiki) Portugal (ASA) Turkey (Dogan Egmont) Poland (Muza) Slovenia (Cankarjeva Zalozba) Bulgaria (Locus) Israel (Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir) Korea (IRE) Brazil (Record) Serbia (Plato) Macedonia (Ili-Ili) Albania (Botimet Dudaj) Taiwan (Crown) China (Shanghai Translation) Japan (Shinchosha) Croatia (Algoritam) Romania (Polirom) Russia (Azbooka) Iran (Forough) Vietnam (Vipen)

QuotesShow all

»Schlink has won his huge popular following by bringing to bear a penetrating intelligence about the psyche of his characters and an empathy for their dilemmas. Professor Schlink may be an expert on the letter of the law, but writer Schlink is an intrepid explorer of the much trickier terrain of the human heart.«Newsweek

»Bernhard Schlink finds the open sore in Germany’s present.« Süddeutsche Zeitung

»Schlink must be on the syllabus of schools as well as of political parties. Not because he tears open old wounds, but because he heals them the right way.« OÖNachrichten

»Bernhard Schlink has a keen sense of topical issues. He has chosen his characters well and has given each an individual voice.« Focus

»Transcending the political, the author creates a tangled web between his characters, which reminds of a chamber drama and provides more insights into the connection between ideology and violence than any political analysis. The patterns Schlink uses to explain the escalation of terror during the 60s and 70s are basic and apt and therefore convincing. The author of the world famous ›The Reader‹ creates well-rounded and vivid characters as usual, providing a setting from which the reader can withdraw neither emotionally nor intellectually.« Die Welt

»Schlink lets his characters meet in the atmosphere of an intimate play ... In addition to that there is the brilliant constellation of characters and Schlink’s clever dialogues. This combination makes ›The Weekend‹ an impressively dense novel.« Abendzeitung

»Exciting, at times even breathtaking, and above all stimulating, is this view of the debate on the release of RAF terrorists, which Schlink chooses in ›The Weekend‹.«Westfälische Rundschau

Lesezeichen / Weitersagenschliessen