A review by amalgamemnon
Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer

3.0

This was a hell of a slog - although enjoyable and rewarding for the most part, sometimes my frustrations with it threatened to overwhelm the whole book. The modernist, polyphonic prose is really well done for the most part - it's not just one track, with different chapters and characters having clearly distinct voices and styles. It can be a little frustrating trying to tie the different strands of narrative together, as so often it's unclear what has taken place in just one section of the book. Lots of wavy lines, characters passing in and out of stories or in and out of life. It can be a little unsatisfying to read chapter after chapter of unclear, hazy events that have dreamlike qualities, in part because it's not clear why they would all be like this (at least in Burroughs they're all on drugs all the time; that's not true here). But taken as a whole, it's a very evocative work that you can really feel - it puts you in the midst of this shady, underground world so that you become attuned to its pulse and rhythms.
I think the main problem is that it just goes on too long - it is so hard to keep going without the reward of plot resolution. I think it would be much more satisfying on a second read-through, but at 650 pages I really don't know if I've got the energy to go through it again. Pleased I read it though.