Marianengraben [literally: Mariana Trench] is the first novel by Jasmin Schreiber. There is no English translation (yet).
Finished on: 19.5.2023

Plot:
Paula loves her little brother Tim, more than anything probably. But after a terrible accident kills him, she has been spiraling deeper and deeper into depression. She couldn’t even bring herself to visit his grave. But one night she decides to break into the cemetery and go to him. To her surprise, she isn’t the only one there: There is also Hermann who is stealing his friend’s ashes to keep his promises to her. Turned accomplices almost involuntarily, Paula asks Hermann whether she can accompany him on his quest – and maybe keep some promises to Tim herself.

Marianengraben is a quick and easy read, despite its heavy topic, but I’m not sure whether it actually does the topic all that much justice that way. It was fine to read, but it is not a book that will stick with me for very long.

My life so far has been pretty blessed. Apart from a grandmother I loved, but wasn’t very close to, all of my loved ones are still alive, and hopefully continue to be for a long while yet. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t grieved, but probably not in the depth that Schreiber tries to capture with Marianengraben. That she chose to cover the deepest of grief while trying to keep things somewhat light is an interesting choice – but not one that always works.

When we meet Paula, she has already reached the deepest bottom of her depression (symbolized by the chapter numbers that start with 11,000 – the depth of the Mariana trench – and become smaller as we move along the story), so the book can be more about her working her way out of it. And I think the thing that struck me most about it is that it is a rather continuous process upward for her. Yes, the steps (again, symbolized in the chapter numbers) are sometimes smaller and sometimes bigger, but the direction is always the same. There is no falling back, ever – and that just doesn’t feel particularly realistic for me.

Generally, the book was a little too light in many ways, too obvious in its symbolism to really get to the truth of things, at least for me. I did enjoy reading it for the most part, and I even shed a couple of tears, so it certainly wasn’t a bad experience, especially considering that it’s Schreiber’s first novel. But the book never grabbed me in the way the topic would have deserved, never made me feel like I understood more about grief now. Instead it devolved into a little too much Hollywoodian tying everything up with a neat little bow. Mess not allowed – and that even though grief is a very messy thing in my (limited) experience.

Nevertheless, if you want something neat, sweet and emotional, you could definitely do worse than grab Marianengraben. If nothing else, it doesn’t aks much of you and will keep you entertained. And it has a dog.

Summarizing: it’s fine.