Funeral for a Dog

Journalist Daniel Mandelkern leaves Hamburg on assignment to interview Dirk Svensson, a reclusive children's book author who lives alone on the Italian side of Lake Lugano with his three-legged dog. Mandelkern has been quarreling with his wife (who is also his editor); he suspects she has other reasons for sending him away.After stumbling on a manuscript of Svensson's about a complicated menage a trois, Mandelkern is plunged into mysteries past and present. Rich with anthropological and literary allusion, this prize-winning debut set in Europe, Brazil, and New York, tells the parallel stories of two writers struggling with the burden of the past and the uncertainties of the future. Funeral for a Dog won the prestigious Uwe-Johnson Prize, and critics raved: "Pletzinger's debut is a real smash hit. It's been a long time since a young German writer has thrown himself into the hurly-burly of life and literature with so much intelligence and bravado" (Wolfgang Hobel, Der Spiegel)."

Author: Thomas Pletzinger
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 03/01/2011
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780393337259

Review Citation(s):
New Yorker (The) 05/23/2011 pg. 83
New York Times Book Review 03/27/2011 pg. 21
New York Times Book Review 04/03/2011 pg. 26
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2010
Publishers Weekly 11/15/2010
Booklist 12/15/2010 pg. 19

About the Author
Benjamin, Ross: - Ross Benjaminis an acclaimed German-language translator. He lives in Nyack, New York.Pletzinger, Thomas: - Thomas Pletzinger is an award-winning German novelist, sportswriter, and basketball fanatic. He has won fellowships and teaching positions at the University of Iowa, New York University, and Grinnell College. He lives in Berlin.