Product Description

Greeks living in Germany who speak Italian because they run a pizzeria; Katka, whose mescalin cactus enables her to separate body and mind, with the result that they check in a psychiatric clinic together; Klaus who tries to broaden his vocabulary with the help of a radio programme, Russian for Children, and promptly ends up in jail on his first visit to Moscow; contract killers on the trams; bodies in the basement; lunatics on the road: welcome to the wonderfully absurd world of Wladimir Kaminer. Kaminer moved from Moscow to Berlin ten years ago in a lucky wave of emigration, hoping for a better life and an apartment of his own. But, he found much more: a country adrift in the extraordinary flux of reunification and a city that was was casting a spell on artists, drifters, losers and hopeless idealists. Of his encounters with these people, Kaminer makes unforgettable tales of compassion and humour. And in relating the singulary offbeat encounters of his own life, he manages to capture something universal about our disjointed times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98967 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Rolling Stone
‘His short tales are fantastic sketches of the everyday in a multi-cultural land and humorous reminiscences of life in post-communist early capitalism.’

Speigel Online
‘50 short, amusing and perfectly observed tales.’

Berlin Kurier
‘A master of observation.’

Customer Reviews

Good in German--English?
I read this book and "Schoenhauser Allee" last summer in Berlin and they are both wonderfully written, hilarious observations of the "real" Berlin. Kaminer's humor is unmissable in any language, though I must admit I haven't read the translations so I'm not sure how it came out. For anyone who's been to Berlin, the books are especially entertaining, as Kaminer gets behind the tourist facade and shows the true charm of this great city.
I recommend these stories wholeheartedly!

Refreshing.
A hugely entertaining collection of short stories about russian inmigrants, and the life of a literated yet disfranchised young artist, in after-the-wall Berlin. Wladimir Kaminer's outlook is predictably ironic, yet rarely he seem bitter, and he resists the temptation of turning his peers into larger-than-life bohemians. He doesn't even talk so much about himself as he do about friends and family, letting his personal point of view appear as the book goes on. "Russian Disco" is a great little book that's refreshingly unpretentious, yet manages to describe Berlin's streetlife accurately.

Dull as dishwater
We know from artists and Eastern Europe. We've been to Berlin many times. And no one in our household can get past page three. Where is the wit? the literary value? the luminous insight? Coming home from the disco, good book for falling asleep.