Hello, I don't usually visit this board but since I am reading this for the second time and gathered some more knowledge about this book I was wondering if anyone else had read it and wanted to make some comments about it(s contents).
This is in german only. You may download it here https://t.me/EurasiaCoupleOffiziell/131or here files.catbox.moe/43sswp.pdf
A couple interesting points that are also mentioned in the blog (https://www.allmystery.de/blogs/what_else) and which now make more sense to me:At some point the book character Michael is compared to Michael Schumacher (the F1 driver), when he has an accident with a brain injury. He gets run over by a car and his head hits the kerb. The similarity here is that Schumacher himself had a skiing accident where he also hit his head on a rock and suffered a brain injury. This is pointed out in the blog post "Hinweis Nr. 4". There is another character appearing in that scene in the book with the name of Sebastian. This is again the first name of another german Formula 1 world champion, Sebastian Vettel. I don't really know if the Formula 1 is of any importance or of what importance Vettel is, since he only appears in this part of the book. The blog article also highlights that the car that ran over Michael is being driven by an unknown person. However in the skiing accident, Schumacher was merely riding a couple meters off of the (marked) slope and there was no evidence that his speed was extraordinarily high.Anyway, Sebastian in the book is one of three guys referenced to as "bodybuilders", in english the term used might be "beefcake". Notably Michael is not part of this group of friends of young proles and seems to see himself more intelligent and mature. The other two guys names are Mark and Andreas. Does anyone know if there are real world motorsport drivers with these names?
I imagine those that read the book have also watched the interviews. In the interview, Alexander Laurent is asked about (Donald) Trump, to which he replies that he cannot mention any details but that if he (is) play(ing)s a role, there would be obvious occurences in the novel for one to see if one opens his eyes. Well, last time I watched this part and looked in the novel I didn't find anything but now that I am reading it a second time I am quite sure that I found something unambiguous.I think there is a distinct hint about Trump around the moment Henrick visits Peter Wahlberg. I don't know if it's a good idea to talk about it directly but for this instance I will do it. On page 89 the office of Peter Wahlberg is being described. BTW, that's also kind of a funny name considering Trump was elected (gewählt). Translated liberally:>One of the photos showed a politician with a grimacing face and a halo holding a speech in front of a huge crowd.I should note that the book came out in 2012, which if you are familiar you would already know. At that point Trump was not campaigning but like you already know, if you are familiar, there are hints in Laurent's work which later played out to be real. I don't know yet if Henrick and Peter are supposed to be similar to "real world" persons but I do have a vague suspicion about Henrick. Possibly, understanding the character Wahlberg better might give more hints about what the role of Trump is. I have a feeling that there is another occurence in the novel describing Trump. But since the novel seems to have multiple levels to it there is a lot more to be discovered and it seems you really have to decide which topics you want to go after. But I also think that if you understand one or two things clearly it might quickly lead to understanding the whole thing better
For now my last point is to talk about Thomas Bachspiel. If you searched for Bachspiel in the PDF you will see that this name comes up many times so it is probably another obvious hint we should have a closer look at. Since this is revealed in a direct fashion in the blog as well: This character('s name) is referencing Thomas Bach who is the current head of the IOC (international olympic committee). Spiel is the german word for game (= olympic games).(page 50) On the ninth Bachspiel was commited to the psychiatry. In the novel this reads as "yesterday evening" because the current day is the tenth. In the "real world" on September the tenth, 2013, Thomas Bach was elected as the IOC president. I do wonder what role the IOC plays or what the importance of it is and why it might be compared to a psychiatric ward. Also could it be that Bachspiel is connected to the accident of the day before and because of that he was brought to the psychiatry?Since I didn't read much further, at least so far, I have yet to determine who the person - referred to as possibly being a professor - that Michael encounters at the university is. Perhaps it is Bachspiel, Henrick or the unknown man loitering around Henricks car in the parking lot of the psychiatry.The novel became interesting to me again because I saw Thomas Bach on video multiple times recently in connection to the olympic games in Paris - which had some, mildly put, weird spectacles that were a quite "in your face".
Thomas Bach has a sport history in fencing.
Another thing I want to mention, I looked at satellite pictures of Kassel. Unlikely, but if someone in here is familiar with the city, can you give me an answer to this:At the beginning of the novel, it seems Michael, on the bicycle, is being followed by a car on a road near a river. Michael is on the way to the University. Where in this city is there a road near a river where a car might drive and which is likely to be on the way of someone traveling towards the University? I couldn't find any so far. Keeping in mind, traveling by bicycle, Michael is in a hurry to get to his lecture so it can not be very far from the University.
