Anne Tyler – Redhead by the Side of the Road

Anne Tyler – Redhead by the Side of the Road

Everything in Micah Mortimer’s life is in the best order imaginable. He has developed his routines of the house chores, of running every morning at exactly the same time before having a shower and eating breakfast. His company “Tech Hermit” provides enough for himself to survive and he is independent in every way. But then one day, his life somehow runs out of control. First, an 18-year-old boy shows up at his door claiming to be his son and then, his girlfriend Cass leaves him unexpectedly. He is not well equipped to deal with this interruption of his routines and certainly not when everybody suddenly seems to be meddling with his love life.

Anne Tyler is a wonderful narrator and thus, also in her most recent novel I got exactly what I had expected. “Redhead by the Side of the Road” is the story of a very peculiar man who seems somehow to go unnoticed when you cross him in the street, who is totally reliable, but also quite predictable. In his Baltimore apartment block, he takes care of everything that needs to be tended to and he seems to be totally ok with his life as he has established it. He shows little interest in matters outside his cocoon and would go on in this way forever if he weren’t interrupted. The author shows that crucial moment, when suddenly everything is put to a test, is questioned and what seems to be perfectly fine turns out to be quite the opposite. He is confronted with the decisions he has made, has to take others’ perspectives and question himself and his habits.

Micah’s obsession with tidiness and order is well explained by the contrast with his chaotic sisters. What the reader sees immediately is that not only are they quite messy and tumultuous in certain ways, but they also seem to be alive. In comparison, Micah is well organised but somehow also lifeless. Nevertheless, they love and support him and would like him to have a fulfilled partnership, their teasing is their way of showing fondness, however, he is not yet at the point of recognising this. It needs another confrontation with his past to fully understand what goes wrong.

He is not a character you immediately sympathise with, but I adored his direct and somehow naive way of addressing people, especially when Brink appears and maybe it is exactly this somehow innocent straightforwardness that makes the boy open up to him.

It is not a novel that goes totally deep with hidden meanings and messages, but without any doubt, it advocates for those nondescript, unimposing characters who have to say much more than you’d expect and it also holds the mirror up to the reader to question what is important in life, where to set the priorities and most of all, to ask yourself if you’re really happy. A moving story that I totally adored to read.

Alexander Oetker – Zara und Zoë – Tödliche Zwillinge

Alexander Oetker – Zara und Zoë – Tödliche Zwillinge

Zweiter Einsatz für die ungleichen Schwestern. Endlich ist es Europol gelungen, einen Islamisten für sich zu gewinnen und so Zugang zu den Führern und ihren Anschlagsplänen zu bekommen. Doch der Informant scheint in Marokko, unweit der spanischen Enklave Melilla festzusitzen und womöglich ist er auch schon enttarnt. Profilerin Zara von Hardenberg muss handeln und viel Zeit bleibt nicht. Doch der Job ist unmöglich legal zu erledigen, den kann nur eine übernehmen: ihre Schwester Zoë. Diese wollte sich eigentlich nach dem letzten Einsatz zurückziehen, doch ihre eigene Organisation wird bedroht. Dem alten Mafiaboss Bolatelli laufen die Handlanger weg, denn die Al-Hamsi Brüder zahlen schlichtweg besser. Einmal mehr tauschen die Schwestern die Rollen, doch dieses Mal mit ungewissem Ausgang.

Auch im zweiten Band um die Europol-Ermittlerin und ihre Mafia-Schwester ist das Erzähltempo hoch und Bandbreite an Verbrechen und Gewalt kennt kaum eine Grenze. Oetker greift dabei auf aktuelle Bedrohungen zurück: die Angst vor islamistischem Terror hält Europa nach wie vor gefangen, ebenso sind mafiöse Strukturen im französisch-italienischen Grenzgebiet mit Korruption bis zu höchsten Ämtern kein Geheimnis.

Auch wenn ich den Rollentausch etwas bemüht finde, hat mich auch dieser Fall unmittelbar gepackt, so dass er innerhalb kürzester Zeit gelesen war. So verschieden die Schwestern, so unterschiedlich die Wahl der Mittel, besonders Zoë, die sich an kein Gesetzt gebunden sieht, folgt nur ihrem Instinkt (und entwickelt dabei geradezu übermenschliche Fähigkeiten, die dürften für meinen Geschmack etwas näher an der Realität bleiben). Gut gefallen hat mir, wie beiden besonders vom Schicksal der Frauen getroffen waren, trotz all der Härte, die beide mitbringen, bleiben sie so menschlich. Das Ende legt nahe, dass dies nicht ihr letzter Streich gewesen sein kann, man darf gespannt sein, wie sie mit der sich nun bietenden neuen Situation umgehen.

Insgesamt eine routiniert erzählte Geschichte mit viel Action und nicht allzu viel Tiefgang, genau das Maß Unterhaltung, was man gerne mal liest.