„Barbara
the Slut and Other People“ is an entertaining collection of short stories
mainly about young people on the verge of becoming an adult. The fall in love,
they break apart; they search for love, deal with unreturned love and the
outcomes of unprotected sex. But not only with their partners live is not easy,
also with the parents who pronounce expectations to be fulfilled and cannot
deal with their kids being different from what they themselves are and supposed
they would become.
What I
appreciated especially that the collection does not simply repeat the same plot
in different settings. Each story stands for its own, the protagonists are
quite diverse in their make-up and behaviour and thus a large selection of, on
the one hand, typical persons you encounter everyday and, on the other hand,
very special and singular characters has been gathered in this book. For me the
most interesting story is the opening “How am I supposed to talk to you” which
deals with two levels of speechlessness, one between estranged parents and
children, the other between different cultures and languages.
