It's night time, and a young man sits writing at a table. He's afraid. Afraid of having to decide--on a woman, a group of friends, an annual holiday destination. He's afraid of becoming numb to emotion. Afraid of growing up.
But all of that is about to change. When an acquaintance makes him a proposition, our unnamed protagonist is drawn into a scheme where each night at seven o'clock, he must commit one of the seven sins--a task that forces him to decide how far he is truly willing to go in his efforts to stave off habit and ennui and save his own life.
The most reviewed, discussed, and recommended German language debut of the last decade, Seven Nights has earned Simon Strauss praise as "one of the greatest talents of his generation" by the Tagesspiegel newspaper and also one of the most controversial.
It's night time, and a young man sits writing at a table. He's afraid. Afraid of having to decide--on a woman, a group of friends, an annual holiday destination. He's afraid of becoming numb to emotion. Afraid of growing up.
But all of that is about to change. When an acquaintance makes him a proposition, our unnamed protagonist is drawn into a scheme where each night at seven o'clock, he must commit one of the seven sins--a task that forces him to decide how far he is truly willing to go in his efforts to stave off habit and ennui and save his own life.
The most reviewed, discussed, and recommended German language debut of the last decade, Seven Nights has earned Simon Strauss praise as "one of the greatest talents of his generation" by the Tagesspiegel newspaper and also one of the most controversial.
Born in 1988 in Berlin, Simon Strauss studied Classics and History in Basel, Politiers, and Cambridge. In 2017 he completed his doctorate at Humboldt University in Berlin with a thesis on "Conceptions of Roman Society in Theodor Mommsen and Mattias Gelzer." He he lines in Frankfurt, where he works as the arts section editor of Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung.
"The text correlates with the mission of its author: unashamedly
straight, with neither safety net nor an easy way out."
--Rolling Stone
B"What a passionate, fearless book, steeped in tradition, greedy
for the future--a book that wages war against serenity. Against the
weariness of those who follow the footsteps of others. Who repeat
life. A polemic for the open heart!"
--Volker Weidermann, literary critic "You soon realise that Seven
Nights is a highly Romantic book. [..] And of course pure, sheer,
true Romanticism is a very original escape from the stifling system
of self-referentiality."
--Die Zeit Strauss's Seven Nights are seven slaps to the back of
the reader's head: Just think about what you're doing and what you
want! Then comes the final blow, a liver shot, leaving you winded
and bereft of your senses for a good long while. Only somebody who
steadfastly refuses to wonder what life is really about could put
this book down as though nothing had happened."
--NDR, Northern German Broadcasting "The challenge lies in the
uncomfortable seriousness of every single word, which is never
undercut by irony--not in the kind of radicalism acquired through
sensational subject matter."
--Der Tagesspiegel "A magical, surreal essay about Courage."
--Welt am Sonntag "With this book, Simon Strauss gives his
generation a voice."
--Münchner Merkur "Simon Strauss manages to describe a vague
feeling through great emphasis and sharpness."
--Deutschlandfunk "Simon Strauss' Seven Nights is not a novel, but
a manifesto for his whole generation. Against simply functioning as
humans, but more towards feeling. Tearful as well as enraged. A
thin book with great impact."
--RBB Radio Fritz "'I am writing this out of fear'--the first
sentence hits hard! And will certainly make you want to read on, to
get to know about this drama to its full extent. Simon Strauss'
debut represents a sparkling, rather explosive novel."--RBB
Kulturradio
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