Look at Me

Katharina’s husband isn’t coming home for the weekend—again—so she’s on her own. When their chaotic daughter Helli has a nosebleed, Kat has to dash off to school to pick her up.

Then their son, Alex, announces he’s bringing his new girlfriend home for the first time. Kat’s best friend from college is coming around tonight too, and she’s wondering if she should try to seduce him—but first she needs to do the shopping, the vacuuming and the laundry, deal with an exploding clothes-dryer, find their neighbour’s severed thumb in the front yard and catch a couple of escaped rodents.

When she’s got all that sorted, perhaps she’ll have time to think about the thing she’s been trying not to think about—the lump she’s just found in her breast. Because you can’t just die and leave a huge mess for someone else to clean up…can you? And wasn’t there supposed to be more to life than this?

Mareike Krügel lives in Schleswig-Holstein with her husband and their two children. She has received numerous literary awards, including the Friedrich Hebbel Prize. Look at Me is her fourth novel, and the first to be translated into English.

‘Funny, moving and thought-provoking.’ BookMooch

‘Kat and her family are deeply flawed but likeable characters; you want to cheer them on...A good read, suitable for long, dark evenings.’ Otago Daily Times

‘A quirky ride that masterfully blends a sardonic sense of humour with a deeply embedded fear of mortality.’ Readings

‘For all the chaos of Katharina’s life and for all the humour of her narrative voice, this well-written and surprisingly complex novel has an unexpected gravitas.’ Age

‘Definitely one of those “read in one sitting”, “hard to put down” books.’ Nudge Books

‘An enjoyable and thought provoking read.’ MindFood

'With a heroine so well-realised she feels like a friend, and piercingly true ruminations on the strange courses that life can take, Look At Me is a wildly impressive English-language debut.’ Culturefly

‘Full of whimsical inner monologues and snappy one liners.’ Booklist

‘Krügel knows her way around both the salty and sweet of marriage and motherhood.’ Kirkus Reviews