When the children have grown up, and the grandparents have become children again.

ROTKÄPPCHEN RAUCHT AUF DEM BALKON
(Red Riding Hood Is Smoking on the Balcony)
by Wladimir Kaminer
Goldmann/Verlagsgruppe Random House Bertelsmann, August 2020 (voir catalogue)

Children are odd. And so are grandparents. Children grow up, get a mortgage, and refuse to touch the cheap booze they used to binge-drink at parties – while their grandparents rediscover a childlike pleasure in conquering the world and pushing the boundaries. Meanwhile, the younger generation prefers to stay at home, and to ‘find’ itself by living between the fridge and the computer. In this new collection of stories, told with much love and humour, family man Wladimir Kaminer reveals the complicated relationship between the generations.

Wladimir Kaminer, born in Moscow in 1967, trained as a sound engineer for theatre and radio and then studied dramaturgy at the Moscow Theatre Institute. He has been living in Berlin since 1990. He is a regular contributor to various newspapers and magazines, and he organises events. His volume of short stories, Russendisko, and numerous other books have made him into one of the most popular and sought-after writers in Germany.