[ كتاب مقترح من Literatur Schweiz ] «Nach Hause schwimmen» was an impressive comeback for Rolf Lappert in 2008. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Wilbur, who dreams of being Bruce Willis but is ashamed of his own short stature. Only 160cm tall, he has withdrawn from life. Never having known his mother or father, at the age of eleven he also lost his grandmother, with whom he had lived in Ireland and in whom he had found comfort. Life hasn’t been kind to Wilbur. Nevertheless, bizarre events continue to crop up in his disturbed suicide-obsessed pilgrimage through life. In a panorama that also spans a large geographical area, Lappert has embedded a multitude of small stories that give the novel its twinkling character. The author always retains his faith in his hero and dusts his tragic lot in life with a shimmer of luck, which in the end is granted to the hero in a fairy-tale manner.
«Nach Hause schwimmen» is a coming of age novel equipped with a rich narrative, whose 500 plus pages allow ample room for its characters and landscapes and carry the user with them on their long journey.

(Beat Mazenauer,  transl. by Andrea Mason Willfratt)
 
«Nach Hause schwimmen» was awarded the Swiss Book Prize 2008.

[ قول مأثور ] «Es ist, als trage man den Müllsack zu dem zurück, der ihn auf die Strasse gestellt hat, und verlange Finderlohn.»

[ معلومات ] Lappert, Rolf: Nach Hause schwimmen. (original language: Deutsch) Swimming home. Hanser Verlag, München, 2008 . ISBN: 978-3-446-20992-3.