Carmen Stephan

It's all true

«Should they fold their arms? Lay down their work? Go on strike maybe? Keep their heads down and fish away in silence? Weep and moan? Jacaré was looking for a higher way. Then came the night that brought an answer; it was so far off the chart of possible solutions, so absurd, so dangerous and so out of the question that he went for it.»

Guided by stars, four men set sail from north-east Brazil to see their president. Sixty-one days later they arrive as heroes. Orson Welles plans a film about their journey, but one of the four is swept overboard during filming and disappears. «It’s All True» is an understated but complex novella based on real-life events, taking its title from Orson Welles’ unfinished film.
Carmen Stephan’s novella is a beautiful, pensive book with shades of the Old Man and the Sea. The precise yet dream-like writing explores familiar ideas about truth and fiction in a striking and memorable way.
Clearly influenced by magic realism and with a pleasing sense of mystery, the novella is full of vivid turns of phrase and striking similes. It’s All True is a philosophical, reflective book, which delights in small descriptive details. The tone is calm, wistful and uncynical – reminiscent of Peter Stamm’s writing – and the narrative’s open, ingenuous style makes for a delightfully heady reading experience.

(Recommended by New Books in German, 43/2018)

S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 2017

ISBN: 978-3-10-397305-1