Almost Everything Very Fast: A Novel

by Christopher Kloeble, Aaron Kerner (Translator)

Overview

Albert is nineteen, grew up in an orphanage, and never knew his mother. All his life Albert had to be a father to his father: Fred is a child trapped in the body of an old man. He spends his time reading encyclopedias, waves at green cars, and is known as the hero of a tragic bus accident. Albert senses that Fred, who has just been given five months left to live, is the only one who can help him learn more about his background.

With time working against them, Albert and Fred set out on an adventurous voyage of discovery that leads them via the underground sewers into the distant past--all the way back to a night in August 1912, and to the story of a forbidden love.

Almost Everything Very Fast, Christopher Kloeble's U.S. debut, is a sensitive and dramatic family saga and page-turning road novel all in one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555979225
Publisher:	Graywolf Press
Publication date:	02/02/2016
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Christopher Kloeble is an award-winning German novelist and scriptwriter. Almost Everything Very Fast is his third book, and his first to be published in English. He lives in Berlin and New Delhi.

Editorial Reviews

11/30/2015
Kloeble’s U.S. debut is a disturbing, ultimately moving novel about a young man trying to discover who his mother is, with flashbacks to men and women directly or indirectly contributing to his heritage. At 19, Albert Driajes leaves Saint Helena orphanage in Bavaria, where he has grown up under the rigorous supervision of Sister Alfonsa. Albert returns to Königsdorf to be with the only parent he has ever known, Fred Driajes, whose mental impairment contrasts sharply with Albert’s intellect. Fred expresses joy by saying ambrosial and conveys his awareness he is dying by holding up five fingers, the number of months he has left to live. While looking after Fred, Albert uncovers little he understands about the past, until Sister Alfonsa draws him back to Saint Helena promising she will at last reveal all. Narratives from Albert’s perspective, Fred’s, and a mysterious, unrepentant 80-year-old confined to a nursing home include stories of rape, incest, murder, arson, bullying, and betrayal dating back to pre-World War I Germany, converging in a Bavarian town where villagers follow a 400-year-old tradition of renouncing their most beloved possession. Abandonment is one of several themes Kloeble interweaves into this exploration of the nature of family and community, connection and disconnection. Ominous imagery (the skull from a breeding experiment, Hansel and Gretel’s trail of crumbs) and the mix of unbelievable reality with credible lies compel readers to work alongside Albert to unravel the truth. Kloeble’s cinematic vision and vivid storytelling encompass a range of human emotion and iniquity. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Cleverly structured [and] consistently well written, and it vividly evokes a place—Bavaria’s ‘alpine uplands’—that many of us have never visited.”—Star Tribune

"Moving… Kloeble’s cinematic vision and vivid storytelling encompass a range of human emotion and iniquity." —Publishers Weekly

"This is a beautifully realized, cleverly plotted story of an unconventional family and what its members call their ‘most beloved possessions.’ Filled as it is with memorable characters about whom readers will care immensely, the story is absorbing throughout and deeply satisfying.”—Booklist

“The characters are captivating, the atmosphere tense, and the descriptions fascinating. Kloeble’s quirky, dark, and heartbreaking novel is difficult to put down, and impossible to forget.”—Historical Novel Society

“Almost Everything Very Fast is ingeniously structured, intelligently written, and moves at a steady, forceful pace. It is entirely enjoyable, from start to finish.”—Ha Jin

“With gorgeous prose and a delicious sleight-of-hand that makes his ensemble cast sparkle as brightly as his plot, Christopher Kloeble spins a tale that brings home the truth that the past is much closer than we imagine it to be. Few novels are as satisfying at the end as they are at the beginning and Kloeble nails it.”—Ru Freeman

“A bright and heartwarming coming-of-age novel, whose virtuosic language keeps you enthralled from the first to the last page. At the end, you want to take the protagonists home with you.”—Brigitte Extra (Germany)

“A love story, a crime novel, a time document. A great piece of literature.”—Christine Westermann

From the Publisher

2015-11-19
A young man sets out with his disabled father to learn the truth about his heritage. This is German novelist Kloeble's third novel and his first to reach English readers via this translation by Kerner. The story's protagonist is Albert, a 19-year-old who was raised in a Bavarian orphanage due to the mental incapacities of his much older father, Fred. When Albert discovers Fred is dying, he takes the old man and sets off on a fairy tale-like adventure to find his real mother. The story turns dark when Kloeble rockets readers back more than 100 years to explore the history of Albert's family. Beginning in 1912, the author spins out the story of Josfer and Jasfe, two attractive siblings who can't resist doing the wild thing and producing kids, not to mention that little hunting trip where Josfer kills his father to make things easier on the domestic front. This familial thread picks up again in 1924 with the story of Julius Habom, one of the siblings' offspring, who has a similarly tumultuous relationship with his own sister. Albert's family tree might be a bit arcane but it is patently clear Kloeble is trying to upend the conventions of fables and modern notions about parenthood. "Hansel and Gretel crumbs," Albert says. "You follow them because you think they're going to help you get out of the forest. And all they do is lead you deeper and deeper in. Till you can't tell the day from the night anymore. Then, all of a sudden, the trail ends. "In the end, it's hard to tell whether it's the preposterous story or Kloeble's sentimental style that derails the book. Nevertheless, all but the most adventurous readers are likely to be repelled by this whimsical coming-of-age story liberally seeded with incest and murder. A grotesque and puerile reimagining of German folklore.

Kirkus Reviews