This will be the last book club meeting before the summer break. We look forward to meeting again in September.
Read and discuss works by contemporary German authors in this series hosted by the Goethe-Institut. All books can be read in recent English translation or in the German original; discussion will be in English. Led by local German professor
Amanda Sheffer (The Catholic University of America), this book club focuses on contemporary fiction and will explore experiences and thoughts about the text.
A raft with eleven Algerian refugees, running low on fuel. A cruise ship with a small town’s worth of international passengers and crew members. An Irish freighter. A Spanish rescue vessel. One single point of convergence in a vast wash of blue water.
Miami-based The Spirit of Europe, the third largest cruise liner in the world, plows through the Mediterranean every summer, offering its passengers a temporary escape from their everyday lives. But even the bloated tackiness of the ship’s much-hyped belly flop competition is not immune to the chaos of the European migration crisis. When a disabled raft nears The Spirit of Europe, the ship’s captain is forced to do something headquarters in Miami wants to avoid: cut the engines.
Collision is a maritime thriller by one of Germany’s most celebrated crime writers, building suspense through the eyes of a diverse array of memorable characters, among them Karim Yacine, the Algerian captain of the raft disable; Lalita Masarangi, member of the massive cruise ship’s security team; and Sybille Malinowski, an elderly passenger on holiday with her sister, which, as the drama at sea continues to unfold, seems to be turning increasingly sinister. Central to all of it is Nikhil “Nike” Mehta, the cruise ship’s ambitious head of security who, like an illusionist, makes the ship’s relentless problems disappear. As
Collision races toward its surprising conclusion, Nike’s particular solution for the Algerian refugees at sea might be his greatest slight of hand yet.
Merle Kröger is co-author and producer of the award-winning cinema documentaries
Day of the Sparrow (2010) and
Revision (2012). Kröger has published several novels and was awarded the German Crime Novel Award 2013. She released a documentary film in Germany based on the events that served as the inspiration for
Collision, a bestseller in Germany.
In cooperation with the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America.
Back
