A year ago I wrote about Ferdinand von Schirach’s The
Collini Case. So why revisit the same
author? Because he’s THAT good. http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2014/09/the-colllini-case.html
In The Girl Who
Wasn’t There, von Schirach taunts us with another closed and shut
case. Sebastian von Eschburg had an
unusual childhood, to say the least.
He’s risen above it. A renowned
photographic artist, his works play with reality and truth, bridging the
boundaries of both. He provokes, he
guides his viewers into places of wonder.
Von Schirach carves his character in clear, distinct, but
circular lines, making us wonder, plumbing the depths of an unknowable
mind. The language is sharp, concise,
chiseled. Take this short description of
an episode in the protagonist’s beginning as a photographer:
“…the owner of a perfumery came into one of these small
studios. She wanted nude photographs of
herself. She was in her mid-forties and she and her husband had divorced a few
months before: the pictures were to be for the new man in her life. She blushed when she said that.”
You’re immediately caught with the awkwardness, the
abruptness, and a pathway leading to the heart of the book. Somewhat romantic, but in the sense of
gauze-covered glimpses, in a dream-like reality.
You wonder, why would a writer take the time to bridge the
stepping-stones of his character’s development as a photographer? The sure answer is, the reader needs to be
lead carefully from transient soul to artist.
And yet, there is always that misty covering, the fog of who Sebastian
von Eschburg really is as a man, as well as questions about his character.
Then comes the kicker.
A foot to the solar plexus. The
artist is accused of murder. A seasoned
lawyer, Konrad Biegler agrees to represent him.
Sebastian gives him no help at all in his own defense. The evidence piles up. Blood.
The murder scene. It’s open and
shut…or is it? Dark shadows of deception
darken every corner. Still, the artist
refuses to speak.
By this time, you read faster. Ya gotta know! This is a short book, just over 200
pages. Once you open it, you won’t leave
your chair, and when you finish, you’ll be breathless.
The Girl Who Wasn’t
There, by Ferdinand von Schirach
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