A linguistically dazzling, tenderly serious debut, which is brought to life by the quirky charm of its distinctive characters
A tragicomic family portrait full of warmth and wit about the impossibility of grief
He calls them Mačak – tomcats – or his diamonds. Sometimes idiots too, when they don’t understand his jokes. But however many names their ex-Yugoslav father gives them, however many legs of lamb and wine he serves up, he is not able to fill the hole left behind by their mother’s death.
In his tragicomic debut, David Vajda tells the story of four adult siblings and their eccentric family, scattered all over the world, between the bohemian life and the German upper classes, between Berlin and Hollywood. They meet up in Greece for their uncle’s opulent wedding, in Belgrade at Tito’s grave, in Provence with their esoteric aunt – but the one thing they can’t seem to do is grieve. They’d rather escape into sarcasm or into the grotesque, and indulge in easy ways of passing the time.
A unique first novel: funny, tender, and serious