Gilbert dreams his wife is cheating on him. The not particularly successful researcher at an unnamed university takes this at face value, leaves his wife and apartment, and flies to Tokyo. At the main train station there, he observes a young man who wants to climb over a barrier. Gilbert stops him, invites the young man to his hotel room and sets off with him on a journey to Japan's most popular suicide spots.
Gilbert had actually intended to embark on a pilgrimage to the Pine Islands, inspired by the travelogue of the great Japanese poet Bashō, but now this literature stands in the way of the well-known Japanese suicide guidebook <.em>Complete Manual of Suicide, which is in the light luggage of his young Japanese friend Yosa. The crossed paths lead the sadly comic heroes to each other and to themselves.
The Pine Islands (Suhrkamp) was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2017.
Text source and further information about this event: http://www.romanfabrik.de/programm/detailansicht/calendar/2018/01/30/event/tx_cal_phpicalendar/marion-poschmann/
