Sieben Jahre

Sieben Jahre: Roman - Peter Stamm

Accessible, seductive, sober, a style that is as direct and clean as a knife. There is a hint of layering and depth through references to Le Corbusier and Aldo Rossi, but these fizzle out and turn into little more than local colour, the protagonists have to make a living after all, and the boom and bust cycle in the building industry is a handy complication.
But will German speaking culture ever manage to shake off the fascination of dichotomies? Either or. Science or mysticism. Dionysus or Apollo. Black or white. Mind or body.
So, Alex has two women. The one he married is intellectual and prim, Kopfmensch, the one he doesn't is sensual and doglike in her loyalty and devotion. Clearly neither relationship can work, who'd have thought. Hard to have the whole deal with half a woman. Try again, Alex.