Funeral for a Dog

“A smart and rewarding debut marked by accomplished writing, a slick translation, and intelligent takes on the absurdities of contemporary life.” —Publishers Weekly

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.

“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

“Graceful and evocative. . . .It’s clear why this won the Uwe Johnson Prize and why Pletzinger is considered to be one of the most promising German writers of his generation.” —Chad Post, Quarterly Conversation

“A formally innovative, rigorously intellectual novel that also happens to be extremely funny and tender.” - Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

“An unalloyed delight.” —John Wray, author of Lowboy

“An incredibly moving, fascinating and original novel..” —Gerald Stern, National Book Award–winning poet

“Funeral for a Dog bristles with wit and intellectual ferocity: a comic novel full of insights into the predicaments of our age.” —Jess Row, author of the Train to Lo Wu