Goethe Book Club: "A Slap in the Face" by Abbas Khider

Meet to discuss works from contemporary German-speaking authors in with the Goethe Book Club hosted by Chris Walker. Each selection can be read in its English translation or original German; the discussion will be in English.

 
On Tuesday, June 15th at 6:00 pm CT we will discuss Abbas Khider’s “A Slap in the Face” (German title: “Ohrfeige”).

Refugee Karim Mensey escapes on an illegal journey that inadvertently takes him to the depths of the Bavarian provinces, where he’ll be stuck for the next three years. Then one day his temporary citizenship status is revoked and he is to be deported to Iraq. Karim is back to square one and has to find another human trafficker – this time one who will get him out of Germany.

Abbas Khider has written a novel at once disturbing and heart-warming. By tackling the role of self-perception in an open society, the novel poses one of the central issues of our times: what does it mean for someone who can neither live at home nor abroad?

Abbas Khider was born in Baghdad in 1973. At the age of 19, he was arrested for his political activities. After his release, he fled Iraq in 1996 and stayed in various countries as an “illegal refugee”. He has lived in Germany since 2000 and studied literature and philosophy in Munich and Potsdam. He has received various awards, most recently the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Hilde Domin Prize, and the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize. Abbas Khider currently lives in Berlin.
 

Cover English © Seagull Books