GRUBER’S DEPARTURE

Doris Knecht’s debut novel centres on Gruber, a career-orientated manager in his mid-thirties. Gruber’s life is composed of hard-nosed business meetings and casual relationships. Which is just the way he wants it. He fancies himself in the role of the arch-cynic who at times brings his girlfriend to tears just so that she knows what the difference is between TV soaps and real life. Then a diagnosis changes his life; a tumour is found in his stomach. Suddenly his self-image as a cool sex-god is shattered, and he realises that in reality he’s not the quite as strong as he likes to believe. Gruber starts drinking, partying all night and getting into brawls. And during his course of chemotherapy starts to find out more about himself. Gruber falls in love. His cancer goes into remission. At the end of it all he’s not a better person. Perhaps just slightly more open, loving and ready to make compromises. Perhaps.

Doris Knecht’s snappy, wryly told story sees her neurotic hero wander into the arms of a smart, good-looking female DJ from Berlin who appreciates something in Gruber that he himself doesn’t even know is there, and who falls in love with him. A complex, spirited and angry novel featuring a hero in whom everyone can recognise themselves to some degree, whether they want to or not.