"Lion Christ's book is one of the most beautiful debut novels of the year. This new author writes with a confidence that suggest he's never done anything else. He writes entirely from a young person's point of view, with wide, wondering eyes and a naiveté, but nonetheless feverishly present and in the here and now. With a cheeky, coquettish, youthful language that dips into Bavarian...and also finds very fine metaphors."
Peter Zander, Berliner Morgenpost
"SLY DOG depicts homosexuality in a time marked by political uncertainty, queer hostility, discrimination, and social injustice. With remarkable precision and empathy, Christ's novel picks up current discourses and skillfully weaves them into a stirring story about self-discovery and identity."
Rita Ryabov, Rheinische Post
"Christ has written a remarkable debut about an ambivalent protagonist in Munich in the 80s, which tells a story that extends far beyond the usual suspects of Freddie Mercury and the notorious Deutsche Eiche. He should be commended for focusing on queer culture in Munich, which has hardly been examined in fiction in the last years and decades."
Angelo Algier, Sissy
"In SLY DOG, Lion Christ has fundamentally found a terrific, conversational tone, which is great fun from the very first page."
Sebastian Galyga, Queer
"Christ fictionalizes real experiences, mercilessly open, explicit, of the pain hidden behind wild sexual awakening. He observes finely, crafts his characters carefully no matter how badly they behave. Christ touchingly describes Flori's attempt at liberation, often allowing his hero to cry - even though he's a 'sly dog.'"
Antje Harries, BR Capriccio
"Flori speaks his mind with Bavarian charm. And with exactly that tone, Lion Christ guides us through SLY DOG: Even when we have to shake our heads at his foolishness and selfishness, there's something for all of us in Flori's gay awakening."
Mannschaft
What happens to someone who runs away until he finds himself – a touching, radically honest book
A fascinating cosmos of contradiction on freedom and restraints – a journey from the provinces to the profligate, prudish Munich of the 1980s
»I’m the show!« Munich 1983. Flori is a country lad, thirsting for life, glamour and fame, and looking for a man who’ll love him for the rest of his life. He is an incorrigible opportunist, a sly dog and an optimist. Sly Dog is a fast and furious homage to him and all the lovers who died in the first decade of AIDS. In the Munich of Franz Josef Strauss and Freddie Mercury, where stifling conservatism lives side by side with wild hedonism, each step forward is a small liberation. In his blue Opel Kadett, Flori runs away from his parents and first love – the carpenter’s son Gregor – and the expectations people have of him. »So what? I’ll muddle through somehow!« he shouts, diving into the club scene and beds of married couples, illicitly repurposed. It’ll all work out in the end, won’t it? But, of course, life is not that simple. Lion Christ tells an unforgettable story about a wide range of issues that are far from resolved.
Selected by New Books in German – with the highest number of votes!
English sample available