In this life, not everything needs to be clever, or even formal, so that as humans our desire to improve through reading is a path to follow. That’s why sometimes I get a book just for the cover, depending on my context, or just for the title, even though I don’t know the author. Yes, trivial but true. Actually, my bedside bookstore was taken aback when I said, “I’ll take this: Awareness for Murderers.” “Are you sure?” “Of course, 2,500,000 readers can’t be wrong.” “Or if”.
From the moment you start reading a book, the author must give you the keys to put you in the proper “reader mode”. That’s why I love coherent novels. And that’s what happens. From the first page, Karsten Dusse believes our society is developed, supportive, ecological, equal, etc. , with its mundane and productive use, is always under the prism of humor.
Awareness of murderers (Espasa, 2023) is not a claim (this can be understood later); The novel is an amusing farce, reminiscent of the comedies of the forties and fifties in which spies, bandits and vile people were portrayed as almost childish characters despite their rudeness. Such is the tone of the work, and perhaps its success in making humor the stylistic medium. It was a good choice for my round trip by plane to Seville, stopping off in Madrid for a convention on verbal humor.
The novel is told in the first person singular of Björn, a lawyer in his forties who lives a comfortable life with his wife and little daughter in a city in Germany. Of course, his main client is a prominent gangster in the area. It seems he has everything to be happy. But his wife doesn’t see it that way: “In short, we did like many other winning young families: we’re sorry” (p.13). So, to save her marriage and save the poised young man who is her husband, she enrolls her in a personalized mindfulness course. And he will do so, despite his reluctance: “If I had told my wife at some point that I wanted to regain the body I fell in love with ten years ago, our marriage would have ended right then and there. And rightly» (p.9-10). And Björn will do very well, he will be so good that it will change his whole perception.
The novel consists of 37 chapters with a high dose of readability, written with great simplicity and comprehensive effectiveness. He is guided by the so-called “Slowing Down in the Passing Lane: Mindfulness for Executives” by his guru, Joschka Breitner. Each chapter begins with a teaching of mindfulness from that book that has become the central motif of the narrative action. And yes, the murders are done with the work and grace of attention, and many more unethical atrocities, but they even seem acceptable given what kind of bad people they are. There are always double standards in studies. In this sense, the cartoon characterization of hipsters who own a shoe manufacturing company is catchy.
And all this with humor, lots of verbal humor, technique to create inconsistencies in discourse and always with a wide smile at the reader’s judgment: «Online Nursery and Central Day Mothers to this platform as creative as the authorities. Short for KOTZ» (p. 189-190), knowing that in German, the original language of the work, Kotzen means to vomit.
And why should you read this novel? Because it’s a good way to pass the time enjoying a humorous read that’s socially important enough that it’s not just a piece of entertainment. And for being an example of how creating a good novel is the result of creating a possible world and knowing how to be consistent with what’s written.