Rapids

by Patrick Boltshauser, Peter O. Arnds (Translator)

A sideways view of the “coming of age” experience, Rapids is the story of a young man who moves to a strange city and finds himself lost in its warren of streets and squares. He is looking for his own identity–personal, political, and sexual. A series of encounters culminates with his meeting Anja: a strong, older woman, stuck in a relationship with another man she cannot bring herself to leave. Anja becomes an anchor for the young man, yet their relationship must remain a secret–and when that secret finally comes to light, their troubles begin.

260 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Patrick Boltshauser was born in 1971 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and grew up in Schaan, Liechtenstein. After high school he went to the University of Bern to study biology. During this time he began to work for several theater groups as an actor, director, and playwright. In 1996 he completed his diploma in behavioral ecology. Since 1996, several of his plays have been performed in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Poland. Rapids is his first novel.

Reviews

[Declan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Patrick Boltshauser's first novel and, like many a debut novel, it deals with a young persons years at college and relationships which veer between necessity and obsession. The third person narration focuses on one couple in particular and through them takes in issues in the wider society (drug addiction; the use if animals in scientific research; the care of ageing parents) as well as the complicated entanglements of their own sexual pursuits. What impressed me about Boltshauser's writing was that, in contrast to so many similarly themed novels - especially those written by American novelists - he felt no need to pasteurize his prose by being ironic. The feelings expressed are represented as genuine and, as such, they are convincing. I would surmise (on no evidence whatsoever!) that the author is recalling experiences that were once his own, lending them the solidity of real joy and pain. What I'm less sure about is whether anybody in the book - the central couple in particular - could ever be said to really love one another. They like to be with one another and they like what their bodies can do when they are together, but that can all exist without love. I hope someone else will read the book and tell me how mistaken I am!

This is an unorthodox Dalkey Archive book in that it is an utterly straight forward, linear narrative, told without textural tricks or sudden shifts of perspective. Indeed this has the potential to be a very popular novel. The sad thing is that won't happen as long as it has such a terrible, unrepresentative cover. If it was replaced by a blurry photo of some good-looking students on a protest march, they might just have a best-seller!

Either Peter O. Arnds or Boltshauser is guilty of occasional laziness in the writing, with far too many clichés dragged out (kicking and screaming!). On one page I found "He didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb"; "It spoke volumes" and "I feel cool, calm and collected."

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Around the World Reading Challenge: LIECHTENSTEIN
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1.5 rounded down

Let's just say, I understand why this has an average rating of below 3 stars...

For a relatively short book, this was such a slog, and didn't really feel like it had any actual point? The writing felt like it oscillated between straight-forward and a sort of dreamy disreality, and the timeline jumps around a lot, so I never felt like I entirely knew what was going on. The main (unnamed) character wasn't exactly unlikable, but he was so terrifically bland--I feel absolutely nothing for him, and could care less about what he's doing with his life. Not a fan.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Global Read 192- Liechtenstein

This was really a slog. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't the only book I could find from Liechtenstein. It was just really slow and hard to get into. It was a kind of cliche bildungsroman.

[Mandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was delighted to receive from Netgalley a title from an author from Liechtenstein, the first time I’ve ever come across one, especially as I am reading my way round the world and there aren’t many books set in that country. But my initial excitement soon turned to disappointment, as quite frankly I found this novel unreadable. It’s a coming-of-age story about an unnamed student in an unnamed city who is swept along through the “rapids” of his adolescence and college days. He’s in a relationship with Anya who’s in a relationship with someone else, whilst at the same time he’s writing to his ex-girlfriend Marlene and having encounters with other women and it’s all very confusing and overblown and self-indulgent and, let’s face it, boring. I had no empathy with this feckless young man and he can have as many relationships as he wants as far as I’m concerned, I won’t be exploring them with him. Rambling and inconsequential.

[endrju · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I didn't like the book at all, so much that I couldn't finish it. I didn't care about the main character and even less about what was happening to him. I felt the prose was flat without anything even remotely interesting either formally or content-wise.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the November/December 2014 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This modern bildungsnovel is fairly interesting. I would have appreciated it more if I would have read it during my youth, as the psichology of relationships between youths was quite unknown for me.

I did not liked that the unnamed protagogonist seemed to have extremely easy successes with women.