I just finished reading my very first GERMAN book all the way through from front to back!!! Yes, folks, it has taken me more than 20 years to finally tackle a novel in German. The novel in question is the 5th in a series of youth novels about a young couple, Maya and Domenico. "Schatten der Vergangenheit". Shadow of the Past. Do you know what a youth novel is? It's a story that is written in a style and about situations that youth- in this case 17 to 18- year old young people, can relate to. Since I haven't read the first 4 books in the series, I don't know the history of this young couple. But in this book, Domenico, a chain-smoking, drug-using, rehab-jumping, hot-blooded hunk, wants to find his father, an Olympic gold-medal winning athlete who lives in Norway. He is accompanied by his long-time girlfriend, Maya. She is a good and generous girl who could be a poster girl for "Women Who Love Too Much". But, hey, they complete each other. She needs him to take care of, and he needs her to take care of him. So, they make a slightly dysfunctional entity ready to take on all the problems that the world throws at this age of teens.
Yes, I read the whole book! All by myself and without a dictionary. So, I think that means that I now have the functioning vocabulary of a 17-year old German.
You may wonder why I chose this as my first ever novel in German. The answer is simple. I am in the book!!!!
A man who works for Brunnen Verlag, the publishing company of the book, wrote me praising a song on my album, "Petrographs". He crowned "Flügel" the best Christian pop song of 2008- or something like that. He said such lovely things. :)
A while later, he informed me that he had played the song for the author of the book, Susanne Wittpennig and she found that it fit the story she was writing so well that she wanted to incorporate it into the action. While Domenico is in Norway, he discovers he has a musical half-brother who just happens to be a Christian, and they become very close. This half-brother plays "Flügel" for Maya and Domenico while they read the lyrics which are actually printed on page 248. And they compliment the singer (that would be me). At the end of the book, there is even a page about me, with a link to my homepage and to this blog!
I must admit, it was the search for my song and my name that made me start reading the book. But I eventually got sucked into the drama and couldn't put it down.
And now? Will Maya and Domenico find a way to stay together? Will Maya be a help to her father and mother, who has been diagnosed with cancer? Will Domenico stay in contact with his new found family?
Stay tuned for Volume 6 of the Maya and Domenico saga.
Ich bin stolz auf dich, Cae :-) Deutsch ist doch toll! :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! I wish there was a place online to read the English translation of the song without having to find the notes you gave me. By the way, I just typed in Flugel Petrographs in Google on this blog came up #3.
ReplyDeleteHere ya go, honey-bun:
ReplyDeleteThe Gift (English translation of "Flügel")
Wings hanging limp beside me
I won’t be greeting the dawn
Maybe the surf sounds for someone
But I am gone, almost gone
Tracks in the snow leading somewhere
Far away the laughter rings
Inside myself only echoes
Suffering, suffering
I can still feel the touch of
Icy cold kiss of death
Sucking the life from my body
No more breath , no more breath
Ref:
Under the shadow of death nothing’s important
Everything you thought was such a prize
Doesn't count at all
What remains is the gift
Of people and a Savior,
you can trust to catch you when you fall when you fall
Barely escaping the darkness
First warming rays on my skin
Angels are urging me softly
Live again, live again
I eat and drink and slumber
In my dreams I'm young and I'm strong
Catching snowflakes in my warm hands
Won't be long, won't be long
Wings stretching strong beside me
Lifting me over the fear
Beating, repeating the chorus
I am here, I am here
Ref:
translation: Cae Gauntt