Who likes to die under palm trees? (Novel)
Who likes to die under palm trees? is a two-volume adventure and romance novel by Heinz G. Konsalik from 1972 , which deals with the dramatic fate of castaways on a lonely island and their prehistory. It consists of Volume 1: The Father and, as a continuation, Volume 2: The Son .
content
Blurb
“Werner Bäcker, an architect who emigrated to Auckland, is starting with his family on his new yacht in the South Seas. A terrible hurricane brings the dream trip to an abrupt end. Werner, the only survivor, is washed up on the beach of an uninhabited island. After a new storm in which an airplane crashes into the sea, he is suddenly no longer alone. A man and a woman, a police officer and an alleged murderer, save themselves on his island. Three people live on an island. They are enough to turn paradise into hell. "
action
Volume 1 is divided into three parts and four chapters.
Volume 1: The Father
The framework story begins in 1971 on the North Sea island of Norderney . Lars Lüders, beach attendant and invalid, discovers a message in a bottle on the beach . He hands it over to the police who, after initial hesitation, turn it into an official matter. Inside the bottle is a cry for help from a certain Werner Bäcker, dated April 29, 1965 . He writes that he was shipwrecked, that his wife and three children drowned and that he was stranded on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific . Food and drinking water would run out very soon. The magazine reporter Fritz Hellersen is also researching this matter. He finds out that the writer is the architect Werner Bäcker from Lübeck . Years ago, Bäcker emigrated to Auckland / New Zealand with his wife and children to work on construction projects abroad. After a few years with very good earnings, he and his family allowed themselves a vacation of several months on their sailing yacht “Viktoria”. They start a sailing trip to Tahiti , from which they never come back. Hellersen and the photographer Alfred Buddke fly to Oceania to track down the man we are looking for for the story.
On April 27, 1965, the Bäcker family got into a severe storm on their yacht en route from the Tuamoto Islands to the Marquesas , which capsized the yacht. Everyone except Werner dies. The woman and children are eaten by sharks. He can save himself to a desert island with a leg injury. His only companion is an albatross . Werner wants to die because he is almost immobile and no longer able to help himself. The life raft that brought him this far also washed up numerous objects. Among other things, there is a water tank with a supply for ten days, canned food, bandages and tools. Baker determines his position and writes the letter for the message in a bottle that he throws into the sea. His situation is deteriorating. A downpour saves him from dying of thirst. The trusting albatross watches over him and uses his shadow to prevent the tropical sun from drying out too much. Little by little, with great pain, he succeeds in stabilizing his leg and arranging himself in such a way that he can survive at least the next few days.
Baker can splint his broken leg with the help of a converted life jacket, which gives him greater mobility and he can finally creep around the island. In search of water he manages to climb a small hill and move away from the sun-heated beach. On one of his wanderings he is attacked by a large flock of wild seagulls who think he is carrion . Baker almost dies in the process, but is saved at the last moment by his albatross. A rain storm brings flotsam. The baker builds a more stable leg brace out of bamboo and can walk upright again for the first time.
One day while spearfishing, he watched a seaplane fly past the island that baker has meanwhile christened “Viktoria-Eiland”. Baker does not manage to make himself noticeable. Time goes by and Baker suppresses the disappointing incident. After three months he can finally put weight on his injured leg again. This fact helps him to a more civilized life and he can finally build a hut. On one of his hunting trips in the sea he met a shark, which he believed to be the "murderer" of Victoria, and which he eventually killed with a spear. Baker is expanding his radius of action and exploring the entire island. The only thing he can't find is fresh water. It has to cover its water needs with rainwater. It moves its location to a bay where fish can be caught particularly easily.
It was August when he suddenly found traces of people in the sand leading out of the water. It's Anne Perkins and Paul Shirley who crashed on the plane. Anne is said to have her husband Yul killed out of greed . The special constellation of the three people, especially the presence of an attractive woman who is also suspected of murder, leads to great tension. Werner sees the island as his "possession" and the two more or less as intruders who bring unrest and problems. He feels strongly sexually attracted to Anne and is wondering how he could get the sturdy Shirley out of the way in order to have the woman to himself.
Werner has the idea of holding a court case against Anne and only then, when her guilt has been proven, to leave the island on a raft. All the evidence and clues that Shirley brings forward as a "prosecutor" speak against Anne's assertions of being innocent. Werner acquits her anyway and thus draws Shirley's enmity. Shirley wants to build the raft, but Werner refuses him the tools. One night Shirley grabs the flare gun . With that he now takes command of Victoria Island and builds the raft. Out of spite, Shirley kills the albatross with an ax to demonstrate to Werner the right of the fittest. Anne tells Werner about her excruciating marriage to Yul Perkins and his cruel deeds. Then Anne sleeps with Werner.
Airplanes appear. They belong to an air taxi line from the Marquesas to the Tuamoto Islands, which fly at very specific intervals. At that moment there is a fight between Werner and Shirley. Werner is injured in the face and severely disfigured by a shot from the signal pistol. That doesn't change anything about Anne's love for him. Instead of building a raft, a tree trunk is now hollowed out for a dugout boat . Anne, who is often unabashedly naked , is pregnant with Werner. He tries to negotiate with Shirley, so that once they are back in civilization, Anne will not be charged. The three realize that in the end they will have to fight to see who can leave the island with the dugout canoe. Shirley developed food poisoning after overeating shellfish . The two have to save him because they still need him for boat building. Shirley promises that Anne and Werner will be free and that he will not pursue Anne any further. He also explains, however, that Werner could never marry her in Auckland because she no longer has any papers and is still wanted as a murderer on Nuku Hiva . “Island king” Werner simply declares Shirley a registrar so that he can perform the wedding ceremony. Anne can't wait to finally be called Anne Bäcker. The wedding is finally consummated.
Another plane arrives, but the signal pistol has become unusable due to contact with water. Once again one hope is shattered and work on the dugout can be continued. While the lovers can imagine a simple life on the island, they feel sorry for Shirley, who desperately wants to go back to his wife and children.
One morning Werner discovered human footprints again. Then he notices that the visitors have stolen some of their equipment. They decide to fight the natives should they return to Victoria Island. A dead native poses a riddle. It is a woman who appears to have been murdered . Then they see the cripple - she's a leper . Viktoria-Eiland is probably their "island of the dead". The three of them throw the dead body down from cliffs into the sea so that they can be eaten by sharks, and then disinfect themselves with ammonia . They also discover a burial place and a totem idol . Again they are ignored by an airplane. Shirley's explanation is that the pilots are also natives who shy away from the "Isle of the Dead". More dead bodies are deposited at certain intervals.
On December 4th, 1965 the boat was ready. However, after reaching a certain distance, there is no longer enough space for three people including food. The two men draw lots among themselves and Werner loses. Anne is not allowed to know about it. Then they set off to sea and are immediately accompanied by hungry sharks, just waiting for one of them to fall into the water. They are now warned not to throw any rubbish overboard, let alone blood, which would attract hundreds of them. Then follows a period in which the vital rain does not occur for twelve days. The strong sun dries them up and the salt water damages their skin. In addition, they are driven by the current in a different direction than that in which the major shipping lines lie. So your calculation of the drinking water and food supplies does not work out. You have a lot less time than expected. A person has to disembark in four days. Shirley loses her mind and in a fit of rage tears up the vital nautical chart that she needs for navigation. The sharks seem to sense that humans are moving on the dugout canoe and are getting closer and closer. Then Shirley suddenly jumps out of the boat in his madness and is immediately eaten by the sharks, which then leave and leave Werner and Anne alone.
The lovers now only have a liter of water and a coconut . Anne is very pregnant and very weak. Werner also gives her a drink of his blood . After a storm and further exertions they finally reach land and are saved. But then they find that they have reached their old island again. A little later their son Paul is born.
In 1971 , Hellersen and Buddke had been traveling the South Pacific for over a month in search of the missing Werner Bäcker. You've been to Auckland and Tahiti. They find out that the Tuamotus' yacht “Viktoria” never reached the Marquesas. Then their trail ends and they know almost as little as they do in Germany. But then the two of them get a seaplane financed and can go looking for them on their own by searching the lonely and uninhabited atolls . Then they finally find Viktoria-Eiland.
It's been five years. Werner and Anne had a child. They are happy and content in their world and no longer send distress signals to the planes that fly by. One day little Paul asks why they always hide from the planes. His father tells him that they want to get her off the island. But then there is an airplane that heads for them directly. It is Hellersen and Buddke who want to fetch bakers from the island. But this refuses. He lies and claims that the woman is Victoria. Werner realizes that if he lets them go, others will follow who want to know about his fate. His safety, and especially Anne's, would be in grave danger. He is even ready to commit murder, although he knows that if he did so, the seaplane pilot would take off and come back with a company of soldiers to arrest his family. Baker finally gives in and lets the two journalists do their report.
In Papeete they are back in civilization. Werner realizes how badly his face is disfigured by the burn injury. You visit the memorial stone that Paul Shirley's widow Betty had erected. Authorities remain inactive as they believe both Shirley and Anne Perkins perished at sea. It turns out that James Perkins, the brother of Anne's ex-husband Yul, lost a leg while bathing in a shark attack. Before he dies, he confesses that he killed his brother. Werner and Anne get new passports, which they issue as Werner and Viktoria Bäcker. You fly back to Germany and live in Lübeck. Werner refuses plastic facial surgery. But then the homesickness is too strong and the family flies back to Viktoria-Eiland.
Volume 2: The Son
Volume 2 deals with the continuation of the story about Werner Bäcker's son Paul on the island of the dead.
Main characters volume 1
- Dipl.-Ing. Werner Bäcker : Architect
- † Viktoria Bäcker : his wife
- Anne Perkins née Anna Maria Hartmann: alleged German-born spouse murderer
- Paul Shirley : German-born police inspector from Papeete
- Paul Baker: Werner and Anne's son
- Lars Lüders: beach attendant and former sailor on a banana steamer
- Otto Otto: Newspaper publisher and editor-in-chief
- Fritz Hellersen: Reporter for the "Globus"
- Alfred Buddke: newspaper photographer and Hellersen's colleague
linguistic style
“She rocked on the swell, dived away when the waves rolled ashore, rode the crests of the waves and was washed up on the sand together with torn seaweed, a box board, a Coke can, banana peels, two rotten apples and three blue jellyfish : a very ordinary, white lemonade bottle, now covered with slippery green-brown algae, with a clamp closure. "
Who likes to die under palm trees? is a typical Konsalik against an exotic backdrop. The language often slips into vulgarity. But in view of the desperation of the protagonist during his first days on the lonely island, this form of language seems appropriate. Another scene is Werner and Shirley having a bowel movement together and draining them with rough jokes over the side of their dugout canoe. The language choice is geared more towards the target group of adults, so Who would like to die under palm trees? not a suitable youth book. Konsalik once again takes up very similar basic themes and stereotypical figure constellations from other works. Who likes to die under palm trees? in this regard is very similar to The Damned of the Taiga with the same basic conflict in a different setting. The strong Igor Fillipowitsch Putkin from The Damned of the Taiga plays roughly the same role as Paul Shirley, Andreas Herr as a hero with a handicap like Werner Bäcker and the incomparably beautiful Jekaterina Alexandrowna Susskaja with her irresistible erotic attraction like Anne Perkins.
Reviews
The book is about a completely hopeless situation of a stranded person on a lonely island against the background of an exotic backdrop. Also about love , sex , partnership and is written in the style of a Robinsonade . The protagonist has lost everything except his battered body. The story of Werner Bäcker and his struggle to survive with a broken leg are presented up close and impressively. It is all the time a fight against wild nature and people among themselves. Werner Bäcker's story of suffering is heavily embellished. The arc of suspense is not always monotonous, there are extended and lengthy passages, which in parts can seem quite boring. However, these passages are always interrupted by new turbulent and exciting events that sweep the reader away.
It also describes how humans permanently change innocent nature. And with humans comes murder and violence . Alcohol and white double standards are destroying pristine civilizations. Among other things, there is the quote from Jean-Paul Sartre , Hell is in us , or Hell are the others (L'enfer, c'est les autres) from the drama Closed Society .
Who likes to die under palm trees? acts as a kind of modern fairy tale and shows Konsalik's longing for the unspoilt human being, recorded in word and writing. The supposed paradise turns into hell if you are handicapped . Bäcker overcomes his handicap with the broken leg and can walk upright again for the first time. With that he becomes human again. It is a victory of a lifetime.
filming
The material was filmed in 1974 by Alfred Vohrer under the title Who likes to die under palm trees . The movie is based only on the novel and is set in Ceylon in a different setting .
Text output
- Heinz G. Konsalik: Who likes to die under palm trees? . Original edition. Hestia Verlag, Bayreuth 1972. ISBN 3-404-14914-9 .
- Heinz G. Konsalik: Who likes to die under palm trees? License issue. Bastei Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1975. ISBN 3-404-14914-9 .
Who likes to die under palm trees? is also available as a radio play : HG Francis: Who likes to die under palm trees? with Peter Pasetti as narrator, Uwe Friedrichsen as Werner Bäcker, Karin Eckhold as Anne Perkins, Gottfried Kramer as police officer Paul Shirley and Angela Schmid as Viktoria Bäcker.
Web links
- PDF edition of Who likes to die under palm trees? Volume one on wattpad
- PDF edition of Who likes to die under palm trees? Volume two on wattpad
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Heinz G. Konsalik: Who likes to die under palm trees? Hestia Verlag, Bayreuth 1972. ISBN 3-404-14914-9 .
- ↑ named after Werner's wife Viktoria
- ↑ a b c d e f g Who likes to die under palm trees 1 / 2. Summary of Liviato
- ↑ Complicated fracture, bone fragments aimed like a lance at the femoral artery
- ↑ it is roughly the size of the North Sea island of Baltrum
- ↑ the book was written in the 1970s, when sharks were still considered bloodthirsty "killer fish" and "eating machines"
- ↑ Heinz G. Konsalik: Who likes to die under palm trees? Hestia Verlag, Bayreuth 1972. ISBN 3-404-14914-9 .
- ↑ Heinz G. Konsalik: Who likes to die under palm trees? Bastei Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1975. p. 295. ISBN 3-404-14914-9 .
- ↑ Book presentation of Who likes to die under palm trees? on www.buechertreff.de
- ↑ Who likes to die under palm trees? Radio play (published in 1983 as a bestselling radio play cassette)