Michel Houellebecq, "Unterwerfung". 2015, Dumont. Es ist ziemlich schwierig, die anderen zu verstehen, zu wissen, was sich tief in ihrem Herzen verbirgt, und ohne die Hilfe von Alkohol würde es einem vielleicht niemals gelingen. Worin ich dem FAZ-Rezensenten auf dem Buchrücken von "Unterwerfung" sofort zustimme: "Dafür ist Literatur erfunden worden." Denn Houellebecq spinnt ein perfektes, unbemühtes und glaubwürdiges Was-wäre-wenn-Szenario, das einem schaurig den Rücken hoc

Paula Bomer, "Inside Madeleine" - Stories. 2014, Soho Press Paula Bomer's writing is 100% up my alley. It's straight-forward, seemingly bare and inornate, but orchestrated by an underlying rhythm. It is the melody of her words that make them such a joy to read. For her plots, indeed, are not the most original ones: In "Inside Madeleine", we come across a similar sort of young woman in several of the stories. The dynamics are rarely surprising. What is surprising is Bomer's

Image: Alexa Mazzarello /stocksnap.io Preface: This happened today. I suppose I was inspired by Paula Bomer and her "Inside Madeleine". Quakes Erika is twenty-one. She never wears a bra beneath her tight-fitted tops and sometimes, when it’s chilly, she knows you can see her nipples. It doesn’t matter enough. She dislikes the feel of straps. Like all young women, Erika is too absorbed by the way she looks. She’d observe herself from the back, with a double mirror, the way her