ŷ������

The book opens with our main character declaring vehemently that he is not a man named Anatol Stiller and that his arrest for multiple small acts of irresponsibility and possible acts of espionage (which we only hear about later) is completely ridiculous.
As a way of getting at the truth, his warden and his prosecutor ask that he write his life story in 7 notebooks which is what the reader is reading when reading the book.
Through these notebooks, our Mr White (which is how he identifies himself) confesses to multiple murders, discovering Carlsbad Caverns and other strange acts while everyone around him takes it for granted that he is in fact Stiller, a man who left his sick wife to have an affair which was equally disastrous.
Considered a great work of German existential fiction the book goes on to investigate ways in which modern man struggles with acceptance of one's own nature, acceptance of one's flaws and the simple recognition of the past and the future now out of one's control. In writing in the notebooks we, and the writer discover much of what there is to know about Her Stiller and Mr. White's deep desire to ignore a previous life for an fresh new and unlived life.
Although the central theme is self estrangement, it also talks about estrangement from the people one loves, from one's country, from one's art and from the very words used to describe life. For a book written by a Swiss, it is often very anti-Swiss. There are interesting discussions of cowardice and what that means in a world where not killing may be considered more heroic than killing. There is much time spent with Stiller's wife, a famous ballerina who has TB and Mr. White's prosecutor who slowly becomes his best friend.
I am not a great fan of German existential literature and the Mr. Stiller described in the notebooks and found through the writing is not a person I want to spend time with. He was meant to be a pitiful creature, but why spend so much time with such a pitiful creature? Time spent with the Prosecutor, Mr. Rolf was much more enjoyable. The intellectual depth of the work was worth the slow, plodding, and largely plotless book but I can not say it was an enjoyable read.

I'm not Stiller by Max Frisch.
My rating: 5 stars.
This is so far the best book I've read during my literary trip in Europe. It is so intelligent, beautifully written, not that easy to read, nor a quick one, but really worth reading.
The book starts as a light thriller. A man, traveling with US passport and claiming to be Sam White is caught in a train and interrogated by border police after denunciation that he is a Swiss citizen Anatol Stiller, a missing person, wanted for unspecified crime. After being held in prison for some time, he becomes involved in his but also many other persons from Stiller's previous life, including his wife, family and friends.
Beautifully written and intelligent, this is a story of identity, and how to accept our faults, to accept who we are.
Although critical towards Swiss mentality and people, it is situated in many parts of Switzerland and depicts their beautiful nature, food and good values.

Rating: 4 stars

A man with an American passport is thought to be a missing Swiss man named Anatol Stiller and arrested. The man is insistent on proving that he is not Stiller, despite being identified by people close to the missing man.

Why it is included in the list: "An ironic explanation of an extreme existential crisis, this is also a touching portrayal of a failed marriage and a social critique of Swiss conformity. Complex, psychologically profound, and intellectually challenging, it still manages to be entertaining, funny, and poignant at the same time."

This was an intelligent and suspenseful novel that makes one consider just what constitutes one's identity. It also explored the contrast between self-acceptance vs. self-estrangement. I have read a couple of other books by this author, and this was completely different. It is also my favorite by Frisch, so far.

This one started out strong and then kind of fizzled out. At first I was intrigued by “not Stiller�� a man identical to the missing Stiller who is identified by everyone who knew the original as Stiller. This man has his own backstory and his own life, the only problem? The details keep changing as if his life is a lie.

There are a few hints in the book that he is “not Stiller�� and hints that he is Stiller and by the end I am not sure what to believe.

This lost its way for me when he gave up being “not Stiller�� and settled into the life of Stiller because…what was the point of denying it in the first place if that is what you are going to do?

3 Stars �� If you like your reading to be unclear and rambling go for it. If you prefer straight answers and a book that gets to the point move this down your list.

“We live in an age of reproduction,�� he says. “Most of what makes up our personal picture of the world we have never seen with our own eyes �� our knowledge comes to us from a distance, we are televiewers, telehearers, teleknowers.��


Reason Read: This is a botm for Reading 1001 May. Max Frisch, a Swiss author and this novel is one of two he has on the list and the first one by this author for me. At least it was somewhat of a story and the beginning started out well but it soon became a drudge to read. It is about a man who comes to Switzerland and is arrested because they believe he is Anatol Ludwig Stiller. It examines identity and whether we are free to invent ourselves or are we who others say we are, free to invent ourselves but not free from our yesterdays. The book examines whether in todays society and our exposure to technology which affects our identity, we can be like Stiller who may have read about Spain, Mexico (Hemingway, Greene) and really never traveled to these countries. It also has some similarities to Mann and his Magic Mountain. Over all I found it a bit better than Thomas Bernhard but still a hard to engage with book.

This book grabbed me instantly with its premise - a man is imprisoned and is believed by everyone to be missing sculptor Anatol Stiller but vehemently protests he is not - and its humour. Gradually though it moved away from that into a rather depressing examination of love and infidelity, and a rambling discourse on identity and self acceptance - a kind of mash up of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and several well known authors.

I enjoyed the sections set in the prison most - the elaborate stories that Stiller told his jailer were intriguing and the different relationships with his brother, wife and prosecutors worked well to reveal questions and ideas about identity. Outside the prison - on the trips with Julika and the final section - I felt it became rambling and less compelling.

A clever book that for me didn’t fulfil its early promise. 3.5*

Spoiler alert! I reveal the plot, so read no further if you have yet to finish the book! This was somewhat of a challenge to read. The premise that someone is mistakenly identified as someone else and has difficulty proving who is is, was an interesting start. But as the protagonist fills his seven notebooks with his protestations, large holes appear in his stories about who he claims to be. Eventually the reader finds out that he was Stiller all the time, but his subsequent freedom with a sum of money from the Swiss government is puzzling. That a sculptor then becomes a potter is strange. The menage a trois with his friend's wife is less than convincing, and the book seems to fizzle out with the death of Julika. How will Stiller cope? Apart from his adventures away from Switzerland he relied on his wife's earnings to live. And he continued to be a fantasist - writing to his "friend" Rolf about his idyllic life when it was not what he described. He failed again in attempting to reinvent his identity.

Spoilers here too!

A quirky and somewhat uneven story on the theme of identity and the bonds of marriage. I mostly enjoyed it but I thought the middle part was rather weak and repetitive. I never really understood why he was in prison, either - if Stiller had been accused of some serious crime it might make sense, but Stiller didn't seem to have done anything except travelling under a false passport.

A kind of existential novel about identity, whether or not you can you re-invent yourself, and what is authenticity and what is the importance of it. I thought this book had its moments of brilliance: I'm still not sure what the "real truth" is after reading it (which I'm sure is part of the point), and it had some interesting Camus-like and Kafkaesque elements about ambiguity and 'crime' and the hell of bureaucracy. But, in this same vein, it felt almost too derivative at points. I gave it 3 stars.

I am on the 3 star band wagon too. Like others have said I enjoyed the 'not Stiller' part the best. For me the dental records not matching indicated that he was telling the truth of not being Stiller but of course this did not come up again in the story. The book focused heavily on relationships and identity which does not have a clear ending.