Bricks and Mortar
by Clemens Meyer
On This Page
Description
Bricks and Mortar is the story of the sex trade in a big city in the former GDR, from just before 1989 to the present day, charting the development of the industry from absolute prohibition to full legality in the twenty years following the reunification of Germany. The focus is on the rise and fall of one man from football hooligan to large-scale landlord and service- provider for prostitutes to, ultimately, a man persecuted by those he once trusted. But we also hear other voices: many show more different women whowork in prostitution, their clients, small-time gangsters, an ex-jockey searching for his drug-addict daughter, a businessman from the West, a girl forced into child prostitution, a detective, a pirate radio presenter... In his most ambitious book to date, Clemens Meyer pays homage to modernist, East German and contemporary writers like Alfred Döblin, Wolfgang Hilbig and David Peace but uses his own style and almost hallucinatory techniques. Time shifts and stretches, people die and come to life again, and Meyer takes his characters seriously and challenges his readers in this dizzying eye-opening novel that also finds inspiration in the films of Russ Meyer, Takashi Miike, Gaspar Noé and David Lynch. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A big read in many ways, tackling modern life post-German-unification through a non-judgemental focus on the sex industry, in many pages with many viewpoints and many voices. I'm writing this a couple of months after finishing the book, but I still have a strong impression of letting the language wash over me and being swept through the book.
The subject may be queasy for some (and in my innocence I learnt a few bits of interesting terminology) but there is lots of energy and life in all its ups and downs which has wider purpose exploring a sudden onset of capitalism, legalisation of prostitution, and broader picture of European interactions. There's a lot of humour too -- the sex industry being as subject to the seediness of show more accountancy, taxes, and property prices as any other business.
In all its richness, translator Katy Derbyshire has done a grand job of bringing it to English readership, and as usual it is a small independent publisher bring us new daring writing, in this case the incomparable Fitzcarraldo Editions. Fans of great boundary-pushing writing should read this and explore the publisher's other books. show less
The subject may be queasy for some (and in my innocence I learnt a few bits of interesting terminology) but there is lots of energy and life in all its ups and downs which has wider purpose exploring a sudden onset of capitalism, legalisation of prostitution, and broader picture of European interactions. There's a lot of humour too -- the sex industry being as subject to the seediness of show more accountancy, taxes, and property prices as any other business.
In all its richness, translator Katy Derbyshire has done a grand job of bringing it to English readership, and as usual it is a small independent publisher bring us new daring writing, in this case the incomparable Fitzcarraldo Editions. Fans of great boundary-pushing writing should read this and explore the publisher's other books. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Bricks and Mortar
- Original title
- Im Stein
- Original publication date
- 2013
- Important places
- Germany
- First words*
- Wenn es Abend wird, stehe ich am Fenster.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Ich nehme die Fernbedienung, mache den Fernseher leise, als der Welpe weg war, habe ich den Ton ganz laut gedreht, auch wenn's nur 'ne blöde Show war, mit Untertiteln, wo sie hässliche Kerle mit hässlichen Fruggen verkuppeln, irgendwo auf der Welt.
- Original language
- German
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 108
- Popularity
- 301,163
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- Danish, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
