Leif Randt

Leif Randt was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1983 and now lives in Berlin. In his second novel, he creates a geographically non–existent little Utopia called Coby County where people seem to coexist without intercultural differences. There is no economic or social pressure on young or old, everything proceeds in an orderly fashion and melancholy adolescents register the passage of time. (…) Leif Randt plays with the longing for a better and more beautiful life, which finds its aesthetic counterpart in the demand for beautiful writing. Superficially, everything is beautiful in this novel – as regular and peaceful as in Coby County, an idyll unscathed by the spring storm. But it may be read differently. In the end, though, it becomes apparent that Leif Randt has succeeded in writing a light–hearted, enjoyable parody about the cosiness of a well–oiled zone of existence that constantly celebrates itself and reproduces itself. Nowadays, such a comfort zone is something we so painfully lack and so stubbornly desire.

Roman Bucheli: „Schöner leben“
© Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 3 September 2011