Gantenbein

I remain a fan of Max Frisch, but this novel was a chore, even soporific at times. It is a series of variations on two imagined lives. One character, Gantenbein, pretends to be blind so he can observe how people really behave. These are the most fruitful scenes, often delivering a jolt of insight. At other times, the novel lives up to its English title in a previous edition, A Wilderness of Mirrors, and becomes a numbing labyrinth.