If there is a novel needed to counter the galloping madness of our times, then it is this one. It is a tableau of figures from the past brought to life, desperately seeking solace in a present exhausted by itself. […] Jonas Lüscher has written a monumental novel that threads thought back through the needle’s eye of one's own life and continues weaving the grand text of philosophy." - Paul Jandl, NZZ
"Why do our happiness and our lives so often depend on technology today? Jonas Lüscher narrates this in his new novel with extraordinary linguistic artistry. A first highlight in the still young literary year of 2025." - Lothar Müller, Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Magical Predestiny is a reading adventure. A novel like a cabinet of wonders." - Martin Ebel, Tages-Anzeiger
"Magical Predestiny is a novel about reasons to live and to die. About reasons for a ‘This can’t go on like this.’ That may be something one can say about many novels, but the freedom that Jonas Lüscher repeatedly takes for a ‘Going on differently,’ the radiance of his scenes, which always make it clear that they are, indeed, narrated – that is what makes this book great." - Maria Wiesner, FAZ Bücher Podcast
"Human, machine, sense of possibility… The greatness of this book lies in the fact that it does not philosophize abstractly about what distinguishes humans from machines—but rather makes the essence of being human tangibly perceptible through literary form."
- Daniel Graf, Republik
"This novel changes its readers. Jonas Lüscher writes as promisingly as he does enigmatically; he encounters machine-breakers and Peter Weiss and recalls surviving COVID-19. Through the stages of his retold episodes, Jonas Lüscher weaves loops between the conscious and the unconscious, between science and imagination, in a way that can only inspire awe at his artistry. He resists the notion that our conflict-ridden present is beyond narration." - Cornelia Geißler, Berliner Zeitung
The human condition in late-stage capitalism: a book that will result in the reappraisal of an entire era
An Algerian soldier is trapped in the first German poison gas attack, decides that one side has to end the conflict, and leaves the battlefield. In a futuristic Cairo, a stand-up comedian sees an android laughing at her jokes. A weaver from Bohemia is replaced by an automated loom, steals a hammer and attacks the machine.
What do people dream of in the era of capitalism? And do the machines we have created, which are increasingly rising against us, dream too?
In the unique hall of mirrors created in this novel, these conflicts are ongoing and the stories are open-ended. Jonas Lüscher has written a cleverly absurd, astute book that delves into the present to seek answers about the future.