Unformed Landscape

The New Republic Online
Chloë Schama
As the title of his novel Unformed Landscape (Other Press, 2005) and his collection of short stories Strange Gardens and Other Stories (Other Press, 2006) imply, Swiss author Peter Stamm’s characters are deeply affected by their surroundings. The Norwegian fishing village where Katharine, the central character in Unformed Landscapes, resides is a gray place, enlivened only by her increasingly complicated affairs and fantasies of life elsewhere. Like the landscapes of his novels, Stamm’s prose is spare and graceful.

“Unformed Landscape is a masterpiece of minimalism but with deep undercurrents…”—Boston Review