A True Story
January 2013, 190 pages
Available material: English sample
Foreign editions: Netherlands (Voetnoot), Bulgaria (Perseus), Austria (Braumüller), Slovenia (Založba Litera), Egypt (Al Kotob Khan)
The novel gives three sad parodies of men who in their spare time (of which they have more than enough) play computer games, drink or dye their beards in an effort to make it clear that even those in their forties can be young at heart. Into the life of the one of them, a fifty-year-old, dragged down by a safe but dull office job, comes a new woman – and also a new interest in the history of the German Red Army Faction. What happens as consequence of one ordinary date, one ordinary friendship, and one ordinary desire for revenge? Hakl remains faithful to his unclassifiability – snippets from the history of the German Red Army Faction are mixed in with the wretchedness of the contemporary Czech condition, existential thriller meets love story, gray optimism blends with black reality. One new feature in Hakl’s prose is of crucial significance, though – the proposal that action is the only possible solution. The simple but incredibly powerful story about the moment when an individual finally decides to act.
“Hakl brilliantly describes the world of men who are wasting their lives away.”
— MF Dnes
“Into the life of a fifty-year-old, dragged down by a safe but dull office job, comes a new woman – and also a new interest in the history of the German Red Army Faction. The two central motifs, at least one of which is based on reality, merge and support each other, and from them the author weaves a simple but incredibly powerful story about the moment when an individual finally decides to act.”
— Magnesia Litera jury
