A review by sharkybookshelf
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht

3.0

A middle-aged man embarks on a little Swiss road trip with his elderly mother, attempting to give away some of her unethically-amassed fortune…

An unfortunate case of too-high expectations and being in the wrong mood. I had only seen glowing reviews before picking this one up, so I was excited to have my socks laughed off… But that’s not quite happened.

It had potential - using humour can be a clever, fun and effective way of delving into dark topics, and Kracht doesn’t shy away from tackling the long shadow of WWII in Europe, the nature of wealth and how of it is acquired (bringing in complicity through ignorance or inaction) and reckoning with an abhorrent family history, privilege and guilt.

So there’s a lot in there that’s of interest, but the thing about humour is that it is deeply personal, and I just wasn’t in the mood for Eurotrash’s particular brand of irreverent and (falsely?) self-deprecating humour. I also suspect that the comedic aspect would work better for me in a visual medium, since so much of it revolves around absurd interactions - I can imagine myself really enjoying the story as a limited tv series, for example. But I digress.

The relationship between the narrator and his mother was wonderful to read though -  it’s a messy one between two fairly horrendous people, but under the sarcastic bickering, there was a touching tenderness between them.

A satiric romp reckoning with European and a repulsive family history, shot through with a quietly tender mother-son relationship.

PS - What a thoroughly excellent cover.