Seven Lies

by James Lasdun

Book Overview

Part political thriller, part meditation on the nature of desire and betrayal, Seven Lies tells the story of Stefan Vogel, a young East German, whose yearnings for love, glory, and freedom express themselves in a lifelong fantasy of going to America. By a series of increasingly dangerous maneuvers, he makes this fantasy come true, his past seemingly locked behind the Berlin Wall and a new life of unbounded bliss ahead of him. But then his world begins...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393329089
• ISBN13: 9780393329087
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Dark gem

I was impressed by Lasdun's twisty, intriguing Horned Man but I think Seven Lies is a notch better -- the kind of work that makes you plot a second reading before even finishing the first. At some point I began realizing that I would need a second copy, just so that I could feel free to underline whole paragraphs of iridescent and insightful prose. What is equally impressive to me is Lasdun's tricky deftness in plotting -- just when you think he's let a thread unintentionally drop you realize that he's been leaving it slack for a last-minute twist -- and the vivid originality of his psychological portrayals. I don't think I've ever read a better description of depressed passivity than Stefan's (the protagonist) musings or a more painful depiction of passionless, well-intentioned lovemaking, or an equally vivid take on the rush New York City's street life delivers to recent European immigrants. Another of Lasdun's great gifts is his ability to convey aspects of character that the first-person narrator himself does not perceive, so that by the novel's very end we understand that what the Stefan has presented as reality is, in fact, evidence of a destructive blind spot. Not a feel-good book by any means, unless brilliant fiction makes you feel good!

Go here next if you enjoyed 'The Lives of Others'

'Seven Lies' takes its name from a Martin Luther quote: "Every lie must beget seven more lies if it is to resemble the truth and adopt truth's aura." I'll add to the well-deserved five-star reviews here...Lasdun's background is poetry. This short (< 200 pp.) novel feels like poetry - sparse, yet elegant. Every word is chosen carefully. I recently saw 'The Lives of Others,' Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut, which just last night was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. IMDB says that 'Lives...focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany.' For those of you who enjoyed that great film, 'Seven Lies' is a good place to go next, as it mines the same vein.

Lasdun an undiscovered gem

The previous two reviews say it all. Just want to agree with their words and hope more people discover this undiscovered author. I first knew his name when I saw the Bertolucci movie Besieged and got the collection of short stories at the library, the title story upon which the movie is based. Somehow he fell off my radar and he's come back to me and I've just recently read Seven Lies and The Horned Man--loved them both. His writing is to use the overused word nothing short of brilliant. In the case of Vogel, Lasdun will bring you down down down into the well of Vogel's spiritual decay. Lasdun writes poetry as well and has several books but I only know the short stories and two novels. To anticipate other books by Lasdun is a reason to live.

Where is the audience for this masterpiece!!

I can't believe that there is only one review for this book. Lasdun is one of our truly beautiful modern authors. But his style timeless. This read will truly take you along the downward spiral into the rotted soul of a battered man. You can see the corrosion of his being progress from a young age during the middle of the Cold War in East Germany. It has a snowball-affect that takes you through the rest of the novel. All the way through, as in the Horned Man, it is a pychologically gripping read. Recommended to all who would like to introduce a very worthy new author into their catalog. Read, and then spread the word of the beautiful writing that you have witnessed.

The anatomy of corruption

After reading (and re-reading) Lasdun's first novel "The Horned Man", I was eager to see what he would do in his next outing. The astonishing "Seven Lies" has exceeded my expectations. It is the most complete and powerful dramatization of the corruption of an individual human being that I have ever encountered, in fiction or non-fiction. The process of this corruption -- in a world where lies are rewarded and truth must be hidden at all costs -- is the novel's central concern. The plot, with its satisfying twists and intricacies, I will leave for you the pleasure of discovering on your own. The action takes place in New York and East Berlin shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Though beautifully rendered, the Berlin that Lasdun creates transcends the specific place and becomes a state of mind -- the poisoning of narrator Stefan Vogel's soul could be taking place anywhere, and probably is. The great, added pleasure of reading Lasdun is his extraordinary and unique mastery of the English language. His writing has the effect of a camera in close up, only in this case the camera illuminates thought and emotion as well as life's surface. When Lasdun zeroes in on a detail, he seems to stop time. There is no one today, to my knowledge, who writes with quite this subtlety and command.