Read. Talk. Share.
Read a book and join us for a discussion online! Simply register via Eventbrite to receive the Zoom access info. Let's keep reading and sharing experiences with the material!
Book Klub is free and open to everyone interested, but participants must purchase the individual texts themselves and are expected to have read the title to be discussed prior to the meeting.
Feel free to read this month’s selection in English or its original German. The discussion will be in English.
Registration
About the novel:
When Noel's mother has a stroke, his world is turned upside down. Especially when a man comes, who tells Noel that he can't stay in the only home he's ever known. He has to move from his apartment and his city to some kind of care facility, in a town he's never heard of. For the first time, Noel is on his own. Who can he trust? Who can he love?
There is a village in Germany called Neuerkerode that is largely populated and run by people with developmental disabilities — the local restaurant, the local bar, the local supermarket. It's a beautiful, even incredible place — and it's where
The Thud takes place. In 2016, cartoonist Mikael Ross began visiting Neuerkerode. Over the course of two years, Ross learned about the people who live there and listened to their stories. Told from Noel's perspective with humor and empathy,
The Thud offers a rare window into the life of a boy living with developmental disabilities. In doing so, Ross has crafted an enchanting story that helps us understand the often misunderstood.
© Avant-Verlag
About the author:
An avid comic reader and cartoonist from an early age,
Mikael Ross first came to comics in a roundabout way. Born in Munich in 1984, he initially trained as a theater cutter at the Bavarian State Opera. A move to Berlin and studies at the Berlin-Weißensee Art Academy influenced his first longer story,
Herrengedeck, which he self-published in 2008. He received the Max & Moritz Prize for "Best German-language Comic" for
The Thud in 2020.
Also interested in meeting the author himself? Don't miss our artist talk with Mikael Ross and UW Professor José Alaniz on Saturday, April 17 at 11am PDT. Find more info
here.
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