LACK OF CARING MAKES ANDREAS A DULL BOY

I read 'ON A DAY LIKE THIS,' by Peter Stamm, because a long article in The New York Review of Books made his writing sound good. He is a good writer, line by line, and I enjoyed most of the book, until the end, when it becomes less satisfying.

Andreas, the main character, is too passive for the story to work. My old writing teacher, Oakley Hall, used to say that you have to make the hero (or heroine) active. He or she has to want something badly enough to risk something important. Andreas doesn't want anything, and that is what the book is about, his passivity and his lack of connection to other people. (SPOILER ALERT)

When you get to the end, it all doesn't amount to much. Andreas resolves his longing for his adolescent crush, Fabienne, and he once again finds his new girlfriend, Delphine, but who cares? I don't know why he bothers to drive clear across France to find Delphine. He has dumped her twice. I don't know why she is glad to see him. She must have very low self-esteem.

Andreas may or may not be dying of lung cancer, but we don't find out. Neither does he. He keeps saying it doesn't matter, but of course it does matter.

I don't have any desire to read another Peter Stamm book. It's ultimately disappointing to read about a person who doesn't care about anything or anyone. Caring is what makes us human, I think.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle