“I felt as if he were subject to some uncontrollable urge to offend the proprieties, break the most primitive commandments of morality and decency. Was he under a compulsion to name out loud things and feelings that were taboo according to the rules of civilized society? Or was it maybe just a symptom of senility? More precisely, the randiness of old age that Hochkeppel had mentioned?”

Book Review:

Review by Guy Savage  (JUN 17, 2011)

The German novel, The Stronger Sex by Hans Werner Kettenbach is ostensibly about a lawsuit–a very grubby lawsuit, but the story is really about the tangled relationships between the people involved in the case. Lawyer Alexander Zabel, in his late twenties, is rather surprised to find himself pressured into representing the elderly, ailing German industrialist, Herbert Klofft in a case involving his former employee, 34-year-old Katharina Fuchs. Katharina, an engineer who has worked in Klofft’s company, Klofft’s Valves, for eleven years was fired after requesting sick leave. According to Klofft, Katharina’s work had been slipping lately:

“She had repeatedly been late for work, he said, she had taken to leaving her desk for an hour or two in the middle of the day, or went home before the office closed at five. In general she had made it obvious, he claimed, that in contrast to the last ten years she was no longer particularly interested in her job, and considered the work more of a tedious necessity.”

Katharina was warned about her “conduct.” Then came a request for a week off for “private reasons,” and when pressed for an explanation she refused to elaborate. The time off was denied but Katharina took the week off anyway, and according to Klofft, who went to the extraordinary lengths of hiring a private detective to check on her whereabouts, she spent the week in a luxury Swiss spa with her lover. Even though she presented adequate medical documentation upon her return, Katharina was fired. Now there is a hearing scheduled at an employment tribunal, and Zabel will represent the Klofft company against Katharina Fuchs.

Once Zabel takes the case, the circumstances of what should be a fairly straight forward matter immediately become murky. Katharina was Klofft’s long-time mistress for ten years, but their relationship palled due to a combination of circumstances. Zabel asks himself if Katharina was fired by Klofft out of jealousy and spite, and as he pieces together evidence for the employment tribunal, he peels away layers of the Kloffts’ unhappy marriage. Although Klofft is Zabel’s client, Klofft’s wife, an attractive artist named Cilly, becomes a little too involved in the case, and just what Cilly wants from Zabel isn’t clear. When she drops vital information Zabel’s way, he’s presented with a dilemma: he can’t confide aspects of the case without betraying client confidentiality, and yet Cilly provides him with information that will help prepare for the hearing. Why does Cilly want to gain Zabel’s trust? Is she merely feeling pity for a young lawyer who is forced to deal with irascible, autocratic, adulterous husband, or is she, in effect, working against her husband’s desire to squash Katharina?

As the novel continues, an overwhelmed Zabel finds himself drawn into the Kloffts’ unhappy world. Although he’s initially repulsed by Klofft–a man whose fossilized attitudes towards women are offensive and repugnant–gradually the two men form a tentative relationship which unfolds over details regarding the impending hearing and also through a series of chess games. While the male characters are the novel’s power brokers, it’s the women who seem to remain recalcitrant, mysterious and elusive as they move just beneath the surface of the events that take place. Cilly certainly shakes up Zabel’s self-assurance, but there’s another indecipherable woman in the novel: Katharina. Although she’s the catalyst for the novel’s action, she’s seen only from a distance through the eyes of other people, and her motives are difficult to peg. If, by her actions, she set out to drive Klofft to jealous rage, then she succeeded, but perhaps Katharina was just trying to finally escape Klofft’s yoke and suffocating, unwelcome attentions.

For American readers, the novel raises some cultural issues. While Zabel expects a lawsuit to follow the employment tribunal hearing, the phrase “sexual harassment” was absent from the text, and written by an American, this would be an entirely different novel. The Stronger Sex is an exploration of moral choices and moral consequences, and while the males in the novel may think that they have the power that grants them the upper hand, the very elusiveness of the book’s female characters accords them a different kind of strength, and that issue is at the heart of the novel. (Translated by Anthea Bell.)

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 1 readers
PUBLISHER:	Bitter Lemon Press (May 17, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Guy Savage
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Publisher page on Hans Werner Kettenbach  Hans Werner Kettenbach (in German)
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of:  The Lie by Petra Hammesfahr

Bibliography (translated only):

• Black Ice (2006)
• David’s Revenge (2009)
• The Stronger Sex (May 2011)

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Book Review:

Review by Guy Savage (JUN 11, 2010)

Imagine for a moment that you have no money, no job and no prospects when you meet someone who could be your double. This twin version has everything you don’t: a huge bank account, a luxury villa, a flashy sports car, and a loving, attractive husband. What would you do if your double offered to pay you to trade lives for a few days?….

This is exactly the scenario in German author Petra Hammesfahr’s thriller The Lie. Down-on-her-luck, Susanne Lasko is applying for yet another job when she finds herself face to face with a woman who could be her twin:

“In her external appearance the young woman who suddenly appeared before her was not identical with her. She was her height and had her figure, her eyes, her mouth. And it was her face—but with perfect makeup and framed by fashionably styled hair. The woman’s hair was a rich brown and considerably shorter than the sun-bleached mop coming down to her shoulders. Her double was wearing a light-grey, pinstripe suit with a white blouse.”

The similarities between the two women serve to highlight Susanne’s shabbiness; her old clothes have seen better days, and she’s badly in need of a haircut. On top of that, the other woman, Nadia Trenkler, is expensively dressed complete with designer accessories. Nadia seems to want to make Susanne’s acquaintance. Is she motivated by charity, friendship or something more sinister?

Peculiar things begin to happen in Susanne’s life. Someone appears to be following her, and then she discovers her apartment is bugged. In the meantime, an uneasy relationship is forged between the two women, Nadia and Susanne, and while they look alike, their characters are complete opposites. In a short time, Nadia suggests that Susanne can make some easy money by changing places with her one weekend. Nadia uses the excuse of needing time with a lover, and Susanne, who’s been slowly siphoning money from her mother’s bank account, and who has no other options for making money, agrees.

Of course, if you take one poor woman and place her in the affluent, comfortable life of a much wealthier woman, who’s to say that the poor woman will want to return to her old life. What if she likes the new wealthy life she’s managed to taste for just a few days?

The Lie is really quite intriguing. The novel strained credulity at times as Susanne is remade in Nadia in order to buy Nadia the freedom to enjoy her dirty weekend. After all, it takes more than a hair cut, a sun tan and some fancy new clothes to be able to successfully impersonate someone else, and I was not entirely convinced that Susanne could acceptably impersonate Nadia when the chips were down. Nadia is, after all, a primo bitch–self-confident, self-assured and used to getting her own way. Susanne, in contrast, is a bit of a disaster waiting to happen–as evidenced by her history of employment, frequent headaches, and lack of confidence.

That complaint aside, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief and buy the swap between Nadia and Susanne, then it’s incredibly easy to be swept up by the story. It’s perfectly clear to the reader that Nadia is up to something more than an illicit weekend, but Susanne who has no other options for making money, buys the story. And while Nadia is supposedly off sporting with her lover, this leaves Susanne alone with Nadia’s rather neglected husband. And of course, the expected happens…

The Lie can be classified as a psychological thriller, and apart from the mystery afoot, the novel includes some observations about the behaviour of the wealthy when contrasted to the behaviour of those used to the hard knocks of life. Nadia fully expects to buy Susanne, and Susanne finds herself wondering what life would have been like for her if she’d been cocooned and propelled by money and influence. While Nadia has a great deal of confidence that her schemes will work, Susanne is interested in protecting herself if something goes wrong.

It’s exciting to see several small independent publishers marketing books in translation. German author Petra Hammesfahr’s novel The Lie, translated by Mike Mitchell, is from Bitter Lemon Press.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 4 readers
PUBLISHER:	Bitter Lemon Press (April 1, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Guy Savage
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia on Petra Hammesfahr
EXTRAS:	Publisher Page on The Lie
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: The Sinner

Bibliography:

• The Sinner (February 2008 in the US)
• The Lie (April 2010 in the US)