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10/2019 Spotlight 71BOOK REVIEWS
EASY READERCan a book for learners of English
written at the A1 level really be fun to
read? If that book is 5 Minuten-Lektüren
published by Pons, then the answer
is yes. The subtitle Summer Holidays
... und viele weiteren Kurzgeschichten aus
dem Alltag gives you an idea of what to
expect. The short stories, such as “The
Full English Breakfast”, about a young
man who wants to create a very spe-
cial surprise for his wife, or “This Is the
Life”, in which a group of campers get
a scare, are no more than a few pages
long. The German translations placed directly above the English
words in the text make the stories easy to follow. In addition, each
story has a double-page mind map with useful related vocabulary.
5 Minuten-Lektüren is the perfect book to take to the beach. Pons, €9TRAVELBritish author Robert Macfarlane is
perhaps Britain’s greatest living na-
ture writer. In his latest book, Under-
land, he goes underground to explore
places that “shelter, yield and dispose”.
His destinations include deep caves in
Greenland’s melting glaciers and natu-
ral cave systems in southern England,
cave art in Norway, a nuclear dispos-
al site in Finland and the catacombs
under Paris. This is a book that traces
both our footprints in and fascination
with the unreachable in a time when
everything seems available. It is dark
and uncomfortable in describing the consequences of human ac-
tivity in an age now called the Anthropocene. It is also deeply poet-
ic and beautifully structured. Underland is not always easy reading.
It is, however, necessary reading. Penguin UK, €27.80Anthropocene
[)ÄnTrEUpEU(si:n]
, Anthropozän
cave [keIv]
, Höhledispose [dI(spEUz]
, zur Entsorgung dienen
glacier [(glÄsiE]
, Gletscher
nuclear disposal site
[)nju:kliE dI(spEUz&l saIt]
, Atommüllendlagershelter [(SeltE]
, Schutz bieten
yield [(ji:&ld]
, tragensubtitle [(sVb)taIt&l]
, Untertitelteenage hormones — which Frank had been expect-
ing — there was something nasty and provocative
about her behaviour. Sometimes, he found himself
struggling not to hate her, his own child.
Their fight had been about a music festival. Frank
said Ella could go, but only for one day. Ella had ac-
cused her father of being controlling. Her arguments
seemed to imply abuse, even perversion in his be-
haviour. Frank, who had never hit anyone in his life,
smacked his daughter. Only his wife’s intervention
stopped Ella from calling the police.
Frank went to bed that night feeling broken, but
when he awoke the next day, he found that white-
hot fury had replaced sadness. When he promised
Ella to be more understanding, the inner Frank was
screaming, “Stop dressing like you’re on the job, you
disgusting little troublemaker. In fact, while you’re at
it, get out of my home.”
In the weeks that followed, Frank tried to talk to
his friends about his anger issues, but never seemed
to find the right moment. He went online to find
help, but wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking
for. Search-engine terms like “men marginalized”
brought up newspaper articles showing how white
males were, in fact, still the dominating force in so-
ciety and had nothing to complain about. Once, he
typed in “angry men”, but the links were to men’s
therapy groups. Frank had had enough therapy.
In the meantime, there seemed to be more reasons
to be angry every day. At his annual health check, the
lovely, gentle Dr Rana Patel, whom Frank had been
secretly in love with for years, told him, “No woman
likes a flabby man. You need to lose weight.” The next
day, waiting to pay at the supermarket, he had smiled
at a little girl wearing an “It’s my birthday!” sticker,
only to be given a suspicious look by the girl’s mother.
On the evening of the supermarket incident, Frank
decided it was time to act, time to redress the balance.
He excused himself from dinner and went out to the
garden shed. Flipping open his laptop, he began to
formulate a plan.abuse [E(bju:s]
,^ Misshandlung
disgusting [dIs(gVstIN]
, widerlich
flip open [flIp (EUpEn]
, aufklappen
fury [(fjUEri]
, Wu t
garden shed [)gA:d&n (Sed]
, Gartenhäuschen
imply [Im(plaI]
, unterstellen
intervention [)IntE(venS&n]
, Eingreifen
job: on the ~ [dZQb] ifml.
, wie eine Nuttemarginalized [(mA:dZInElaIzd]
,^ benachteiligt
redress: ~ the balance [ri(dres]
, das Gleichgewicht wieder
herstellen
smack sb. [smÄk] ifml.
, jmdm. einen Klaps, eine
Ohrfeige geben
suspicious [sE(spISEs]
, misstrauisch
troublemaker [(trVb&l)meIkE]
, Störenfried, Unruhestifter(in)
while: ~ you’re at it [waI&l]
, bei der Gelegenheit
white-hot [)waIt (hQt]
, weißglühendSHORT STORY