Lázár
History is the most formidable character in Lázár; the family members, evoked in brief, time-hopping chapters, are stretched very thinly across it ... To drive home the Lázárs’ fatuity, Mr. Biedermann coats them in lurid layers of shame and degradation. The scenes lurk in the shadows of these lives, poring over the characters’ sexual deviancies and psychological terrors. ... Somewhat suffocating.
Quirky and confident ... An odd literary hybrid that’s only partly descended from fable. The apparent timelessness of the manor and the dark forest around it are a form of misdirection. Lázár gradually reveals itself to be a book about the way the fortunes of a single family are entwined with the historic upheaval of the 20th century ... Captivating and vivid, creating an intriguing atmosphere of secrets, repression and furtive but robust sexuality ... Charming but uneven, the book’s chief shortcoming is that its episodic structure grows progressively less satisfying as it goes along ... A determined talent that is consciously placing itself within an ambitious literary lineage. Anyone who reads this novel will be intrigued to see what its precocious author does next.
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A compelling and accessible continental melodrama ... Sounds like a baroque slog, but Biedermann writes with brevity and imbues his characters with enough life to shine through the gloom ... Biedermann admires Proust’s high society aestheticism but wants to smash it into the darkest decades of modern Europe. His novel wants it both ways, the Gestapo and the haunted forest — and he doesn’t always pull it off ... Lazar may be severe by English-speaking standards but it is deft and pleasurable too. To achieve this fabulous balancing act on a first attempt is impressive.
