Sonne, Moon und Sterne

Sensationally well-written. Spiegel Online on Lara Schützsack's debut "And Also So Bitter Cold." Why the eleven-year-old is called Gustav "Gustav" is not exactly clear to anyone, but it's not very important for this story. Summer is just around the corner, and Gustav's parents have canceled the family vacation in Denmark. They are experiencing a midlife crisis (that's puberty for parents) and need some distance. To make matters worse, Gustav is developing breasts, and how on earth is one supposed to go to the public pool with two peas on their chest as if everything is the same? Gustav senses that this summer marks the end of many familiar things – and the beginning of everything! Tender, poetic, and loving, Lara Schützsack writes about the tiny shifts that come with growing up, which can sometimes, completely unnoticed, trigger a small earthquake.