Wolfgang Herrndorf #1 – A Bibliography Series

Tschick - book by Wolfgang Herrndorf

Every now and then we will feature whole authors and much of their writings. As there is often a lot to write for us and for you to read we will do this in a series of posts covering a book each.

Wolfgang Herrndorf is one of the authors who influenced me a lot during recent years. The sad thing is: He died from a brain tumor, which is part of his later writings.

Wolfgang Herrndorf – An Author From My Hometown Berlin

Living in Berlin he used to be a writer for quite some time until he published his first successful book in 2012: Tschick. 

I red it back then and nowadays pupils read it as well during school. I would have loved to read literature like that but we were reading the likes of Brecht and Goethe of course. 

Actually I ended up reading all of his writings, which is why I am covering them for you in this first series of it’s kind. 

Tschick – the best book for teenagers right now

Wolfgang Herrndorf writes from the perspective of a young teenager who is all but famous with his classmates. Summer Holidays approach and as his parents left him alone in his Berlin family home he looks set for some boring weeks to come. Yet, Tschick, a new and often drunk classmate somewhere from an former soviet country visits him at home. At first Maik is unsure of this situation, but soon he finds himself in an adventure road trip across Germany. And while everything goes wrong a friendship unfolds. 

It’s not only the great story that makes this book so great. It is Wolfgang Herrndorf’s writing that is exceptional. It is his lively language that makes it so easy for us to understand Maik Klingenberg’s view of the world around him. We get to dive into his feelings for the pretty girl of the class. And also, we get an understanding of how teenagers view the completely alien adult life. This allows for a reflection of how far we have moved from ourselves as a child towards being embedded in social structures.

You’ll definitely read this within one rainy afternoon. And then again on another.

Enjoy Tschick: amazon.co.uk | German amazon.de 


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