Close to the Edge

My name is Ari, and this is the story of my first love. It doesn’t end well, I’ll tell you that right now. So if you’re into happy endings, you better put this down and go buy some ice cream. I honestly don’t give a shit. You can do whatever you want. I’ll just tell you what’s coming up.

This is how the new book by Eva Rottmann starts. Immediately, it’s clear that it is another story with “gripping dialogues, convincing characters and of literary quality” as the jury of the renowned Paul Maar Prize 2021 wrote about Rottmann’s first book.

Every day, a group of friends meets up at the skatepark, for Ari, the main character, a lifesaving activity. Ari can hardly remember life before she got the skateboard as a present from her father. Her mother couldn’t handle family life and went away years ago, but Ari seems to be happy with her father Bob, her apprenticeship in a painting company and the friendship with her skating-buddies, who see her as ‘one of the guys’. But then, a new boy shows up in the skatepark: “He was quite impressive, I had to admit. Confidently and without any hesitation, he flipped and turned the board and his feet, everything looked so incredibly easy with him.” And when – on top of that – her mother comes back into town, her life turns upside down: Is she really happy with the fact that she is always seen as one of the guys? And does her mother deserve another chance?

Eva Rottmann sensitively writes about the ups and downs of teenage life. Fast-paced and humorous dialogues, close to the everyday language of young people, make you want to be ‘one of the guys’.