The new novel by Natalie Koch (1966), Outside the world is normal, is special. Such a book in which almost nothing happens, but which nevertheless constantly intrigues, such as Gerard Reve’s The Evenings. The main character is the outsider Ella. She has stopped her PhD research and has recently started working as a taxi driver. She abruptly ended her contact with Rick, a professor of medieval literature. Not because she doesn’t love him anymore – on the contrary – but because she can’t handle relationships. She has an almost courtly idea about love and fears its mundaneness: ‘Love thrives better when people don’t touch it.’ From a distance, from the taxi, Ella continues to follow Rick.
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