A review by marc129
The Water Statues by Fleur Jaeggy

Swiss/Italian writer Fleur Jaeggy (° 1940) has a idiosyncratic reputation, as the author of short novels in which the stories and the literary style are reduced to their naked essence. I appreciated her [b:Sweet Days of Discipline|1440460|Sweet Days of Discipline|Fleur Jaeggy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491354430l/1440460._SY75_.jpg|1431074] and [b:S. S. Proleterka|433431|S. S. Proleterka|Fleur Jaeggy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348357960l/433431._SX50_.jpg|422374]. But this one, apparently a very early work (1980), I don't know, I really couldn't make much sense of it. At first this book presents itself as a play, but then becomes a prose text, in which relatives and servants of the main character Beeklam constantly have their say. Apparently Beeklam is a collector of statues, housed in the flooded basement of his house along the Amsterdam canals. It evokes the atmosphere of desolate loneliness, but for me it was so hermetic that it didn't resonate.