The title of this book, Ein Leben auf der Flucht vor der Koralle, roughly translates to “A Life running from the Koralle”. Koralle means coral, but in this case it’s an imaginary tabloid.

Max Goldt is a German author and columnist. He’s also made comics, together with Stephan Katz and music, with Gerd Pasemann.

Ein Leben auf der Flucht vor der Koralle is a collection of short prose and dialogues that never made it anywhere else, plus a transcript of his Audiobook of the same title.

Max Goldt’s writings are recognisable by their absurdity. They are funny in a very weird way and very well written.

For example, he has a story about a duchess nobody likes. But, he tells us, we should be careful with our prejudices.
One day, there were two young guys driving around on a motorcycle. When they came to the duchess’ house, they were really hot, so they decided to tear the house down. When the duchess noticed what they were doing, she came running out of the house and begged them to stop, offering a cold shower and something to drink instead.
The two guys accepted. When they came into the house, they saw that the duchess was just cleaning her jewellery and they asked her for some of it. She refused to give them something and they drove off, spreading the rumour that the duchess was a really horrible person.
But what’s so horrible about her? When she saw the two of them tearing down her house, instead of getting mad, she offered cold showers and drinks. And anyway, what kind of explanation is “being hot” for tearing down a house?

I love it.
Although I have to say that I enjoy his columns more than his dialogues, Ein Leben auf der Flucht vor der Koralle is a fun read, if you’re into those kind of things.