The Last Weynfeldt

Adrian, our main character is 55 he hasn't been with a woman for several years, since the death of his wife. He’s with a woman as the book opens but she's about to jump off the apartment balcony. He talks her out of it. “Now you are responsible for my life.”<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1649936790i/32808719._SX540_.jpg" width="399" height="300" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Adrian inherited a lot of money from his parents and he lives a life of leisure, mostly collecting paintings by Swiss artists and antique furniture. He lives in a penthouse above the downtown bank building that he owns. It's probably not a good sign that this first woman in a long while reminds him so much of his deceased wife.<br><br>Adrian does work. He’s an art historian who does auction estimates and writeups of paintings for museum shows and auction catalogs. So a lot of this book is about art and I added it to my art shelf.<br><br>Adrian is old-fashioned in the way he dresses (always a jacket and tie) and in not using a computer or email. His assistant prints out his emails for him and types up his responses that he writes by hand. He has two groups of friends that he meets with weekly and other than those folks he doesn't seem to have any social life. One group is folks older than he is, mostly people who were his parents’ friends. The other group is made up of younger people, many of whom were children of his parents’ friends. <br><br>The younger group includes many would-be artists – painters, playwrights, video producers and journal editors. We get the strong impression that mostly they're interested in sucking up to Adrian so he can finance their next project. It's not so much that Adrian is generous, as much as it is that he has an inability to say no. He picks up the tab every week when this group meets. <br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1649936790i/32808720._SX540_.jpg" width="399" height="300" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Now the story: a friend of Adrian wants to auction off an extremely valuable painting by perhaps the most famous Swiss/French artist: Felix Vallotton. (The artist is real, the named painting, apparently not.) Is the painting real or a forgery? Is his new woman friend in on it? Perhaps the whole jumping from the balcony thing was staged? If you are a highly technically skilled painter but have no vision or imagination to be an artist, should you turn to copying or forging? Will Adrian get forced into verifying a fake painting? Or will he choose to do so simply because we know that very wealthy people always want even more money? <br><br>I enjoyed the story. It's not a top-flight mystery thriller but I did like a lot of the good writing and the humor. An example of the latter: in the days when non-smoking sections of restaurants started to become popular, one of the restaurant owners put the non-smoking table between the coat closet and the toilets and he and all the employees made fun of anyone who sat there. <br><br>Here are some phrases to illustrate the writing:<br><br>“…the story became one of those kind of lies you can accept without having to believe it.” <br><br>“Doctor Widler had been there, his mother’s doctor, increasingly listless in recent months, several sizes thinner and threatening to vanish inside his tailored suits...”<br><br>“The prices had been adjusted to fit the changing clientele, which had shifted over the years from workers, students and artists to a business, theater and gallery-opening crowd who felt like eating somewhere frequented by workers, students and artists.”<br><br>About his first year of marriage: “…a year which grew happier in Weynfeldt’s memory with every year that followed.”<br><br>“Hausmann chewed on his marinated eggplant with the face of a highly musical person forced to listen to an amateur orchestra rehearsing.”<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1649936790i/32808721._SX540_.jpg" width="399" height="220" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>The author (b. 1948) has written a dozen novels, mostly thrillers, although his best-known work (and quite highly rated on GR) is about a man with Alzheimer’s, Small World. His day job is writing a newspaper business/current events column and those articles have been collected in nine books. He writes in German. <br><br>Woman and Guitar, painting by Vallotton on iartprints.com<br>Street in Bern by Dennis Jarvis on flickr.com <br>The author from archyworldws.com<br>

<br><i>The Last Weynfeldt</i> opens with a beautiful woman threatening to jump off a balcony to her death. She decides not to, but once you get to know this character, the scene seems completely unconvincing in retrospect. There are things going wrong in her life, but nothing in the way she is portrayed suggests depression or suicidal feelings. Lorena is a shoplifter, a grifter, a con artist, and she becomes the obsession of the protagonist, Adrian Weynfeldt, an independently wealthy 50-something Zurich native who is a complete gentleman, from his manners and his antiques-filled apartment down to his cufflinks. Soon after they meet in a bar he is paying her bills and not getting anything in return. It is interesting to see how far Weynfeldt can be pushed, how much of a patsy he is willing to be; not only is he Lorena's pushover, but he hosts weekly dinners at expensive restaurants for various groups of friends, none of whom seem to really like him, but can't seem to do without his hospitality. When one friend wants to make himself over in the Marquesas Islands, Weynfeldt gets out his checkbook and asks how much.<br><br>The main plotline involves the forgery of this painting by Félix Vallotton:<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1474358408i/20585638._SX540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><i>Femme nue devant une salamandre</i>, 1900.<br><br>Its owner, a friend of Weynfeldt, is getting decrepit and needs cash to move into a retirement apartment on Lake Como. He decides the painting must be sold, but he can't bear to part with it, so he has another friend of theirs forge a copy. He gives the copy to Weynfeldt to sell at auction (Weynfeldt is an expert at an art auction house). Will Weynfeldt sell the copy, or the original? This is the crux of the novel. Along the way Lorena has a fling with a fellow grifter who sells designer clothes at the boutique where she was caught shoplifting, and they conspire to squeeze even more cash out of the seemingly hapless Weynfeldt.<br><br>Despite the emphasis on the Vallotton painting, of which there is much, the novel never really feels "set" in the art world. Weynfeldt goes to the office every day and has brief conversations with his assistant about the auction catalog, but there is only one unexciting scene that takes place at an auction. The most drama in the book is when Lorena stuffs a silk Prada dress in her tiny purse and is then stopped by the store's proprietress upon leaving.<br><br>Mention must be made of the eccentricities in translation. The plural of "still life" is "still lifes," not "still lives." Eyeliner pencils don't have "lids," but "caps." (And the eyeliner pencil which Lorena uses to vandalize the Vallotton painting on p. 175 has become a lipstick on p. 238.) A top is awkwardly described as "low-cut, belly-free" - <i>midriff-baring</i> is surely what is meant. Then there's that favorite trendy error of everyone everywhere now, <i>free reign</i> instead of <i>free rein</i>. It's a horse metaphor, people. Not a royalty metaphor.

<i>Der letzte Weynfeldt</i> ist bereits mein siebter Suter und ich empfand ihn als einen seiner besten. Vielleicht hat mich <i>Die dunkle Seite des Mondes</i> noch ein wenig mehr eintauchen lassen. Nur ist aus Urs Blank nun Adrian Weynfeldt geworden, einem deutlich sympathischeren Zeitgenossen, mit deutlich grösserem Vermögen, Anstand und einem besseren Händchen für Kunst &amp; Kultur. <br /><br /><i>Der letzte Weynfeldt</i> ist ein typischer Suter, eine wahre Ode an das Adjektiv. Das beschreibende Wort ist des Autors prägenste Stilelement - neben köstlichkomischen Textpassagen natürlich (siehe unten). Dass im Werk Namen wie Ferdinand Hodler, Segantini, Giacometti oder Alfred Roth fallen, ist kein Wunder: Suter zelebriert authentisch die Schweizer Kunstklassik. <br /><br />Jede seiner Geschichten lässt mich durch Zürich spazieren, in den edelsten Restaurants dinieren und mich abends in die weichen Betten der Goldküste fallen. Nicht, dass ich diese Lebensstile persönlich für besonders vertretbar empfinde - aber die intimen, schamlosen Einsichten lassen einem Seite um Seite umblättern; in zwei Tagen war dieses Buch gegessen. Köstlich fand ich unter anderem folgende Textpassagen (keine Spoiler, aber typisch Suter): <br /><br />"Ein kurzer Hustenanfall zwang Baier, die Havana aus dem Mund zu nehmen und in den Aschenbecher zu legen. Er unterdrückte ihn mit der Routine eines Mannes, des fast sein ganzes Leben lang geraucht und fast sein halbes Leben lang gehustet hat. Dann nahm er einen grossen Schluck Port. Nicht sein Lieblingsgetränk, nur sein Lieblingskompromiss zwischen etwas Vernüftigerem und etwas Stärkerem." <br /><br />und:<br /><br />"Das Agustoni gab es schon seit über vierzig Jahren, und in dieser ganzen Zeit was die Speisekarte gleich geblieben. (...) Die Preise hatten sich im Laufe der Jahre der Kundschaft angepasst, die sich von Arbeitern, Studenten und Künstlern mehr auf Geschäftsleute, Theatergänger und Vernissagepublikum verlagert hatte, die Lust auf ein Arbeiter-, Studenten- und Künstlerlokal hatten."<br /><br />Alles in allem ist <i>Der letzte Weynfeldt</i> ein gelungener, kurzweiliger und farbenfroher Kunstkrimi, er hat mit ausgezeichnet gefallen.

“Ich verfalle in den Passschritt, wenn ich auf der falschen Seite gehe.“ <br />Ja und ich bekomm Nasenbluten bei schlechter Literatur. <br /><br />Belanglos. Was für ein Schrott. Abbruch. <br />Ich gehe jetzt den Ölstand prüfen, da hab ich mehr Spaß.

In Zurich Adrian Weynfeldt lives a largely solitary life. Possessed of enormous inherited wealth and paid healthily for his work as an art appraiser for a major auction house, he has acquaintances rather than friends, and almost all of those acquaintances are essentially spongers, tolerating his presence because of the ungrumbling way he subsidizes their activities.<br /><br />Into his life stumbles Lorena, a petty thief and occasional model who happens strongly to resemble Adrian's long-lost love, Daphne. When Lorena realizes how ripe a fruit Adrian is for the plucking, she conspires with her criminal boyfriend Pedroni to rip him off for as much as they possibly can. Their scheme involves persuading him to authenticate as genuine a painting he has discovered to be a forgery (more accurately, a faithful copy now being presented with intent to deceive), a replica of Félix Vallotton's <i>Femme Nue Devant une Salamandre</i> (as depicted on the cover). Adrian must steward a duel between his own sense of integrity and his desire to see no harm befall Lorena . . .<br /><br />Although a couple of the review quotes on the cover depict this as a suspense novel, that's not at all where it's at. Instead it's a deliciously whimsical tale of love and redemption, of an almost childlike honesty confronting corruption and, through ingenuity, coming out on top. To be sure, it's a fable: I don't think we're ever supposed to believe that someone like Adrian could exist, however much we might want him to. Meanwhile, even though Lorena is by any definition you care to choose A Bad Girl, she's so affectionately depicted that it's hard not to become fond of her. There are some very finely wrought depictions among the supporting cast, too, notably of Adrian's assistant, Véronique, his housekeeper, Frau Hauser, and Strasser, the jobbing painter cursed with incredible technical skill matched to a complete lack of flair who created the Vallotton copy.<br /><br /><i>The Last Weynfeldt</i> also raises in passing a question that was raised in another novel I read recently set in the art world, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2919818445" rel="nofollow noopener"> Anne-Laure Thiéblemont's <i>The Collector</i></a>: is the distinction between an original artwork and a copy or forgery of that artwork an aesthetic one, an ethical one or simply a commercial one? Both novels seem to hover over the third answer as representing the truth of the matter, that without the international art market we'd be as happy to have a Picasso copy as a Picasso original hanging on our wall. I'm not sure I know where my thoughts lie on this!<br /><br />The text dances along frothily (translator Steph Morris clearly deserves a share of the credit that this is so) and is quite often funny enough that it made me laugh aloud -- as on the various occasions when Adrian tries to demonstrate to Frau Hauser that he's perfectly competent to manage his household without her. There's a muscularity about the prose, too, and a serious intent underlying the fabulation. Suspenseful the novel ain't, as noted, but I resented having to put it down when other aspects of life intruded and picked it up eagerly again as soon as I could. And I grinned at the way Suter so skillfully pulled everything together at the end to present an emotionally perfect finale. A delightful piece of work.

I'm giving this one three stars, although I wouldn't quibble with another reader who might give it four. Adrian was a likable enough main character, but I never felt I was invested in him, as they say. To be honest, the secondary characters held my attention more than the plot itself. Strongest part of the book as far as I was concerned was the Zurich setting, a place I've never been. Glad I read it, and would encourage my Goodreads friends to give it a try if they think it sounds interesting.

I received an advanced review copy of this title from New Vessel Press through Edelweiss. <br /><br />New Vessel Press will publish the English translation of this book in February of 2016, but the book was so good that I couldn’t wait that long to review it. The central figure of the book, Adrian Weynfeldt, is just what the title suggests: he is the last of his family and he is not married and has no children. Adrian’s parents had him later in life and when they died they left Adrian an extensive inheritance which includes two buildings that are prime real estate in Zurich.<br /><br />Fifty-year-old Adrian lives alone on the top floor of one of his opulent buildings. His massive apartment is filled with costly art work and antique furniture. Because of his family’s wealth Adrian doesn’t have to work, but he does because he loves his occupation as an expert art historian for an auction house in Zurich. The descriptions of various artwork and the process of art auctions is a fascinating aspect of the book that captivated my attention.<br /><br />Adrian is mannered to a fault. He doesn’t ask questions when he should and he is always paying for his friends’ lavish dinners and funding their attempts at careers. Every Thursday is lunch with his younger friends and Adrian always excuses himself towards the end of the meal and quietly pays the very expensive bill. Adrian is kind, polite and unassuming and it as very sad to see his so-called friends take advantage of his good nature.<br /><br />This book is one of those page turners that grabs you right from the first scene. Adrian is sitting at one of his favorite bars in Zurich when in walks an interesting woman, in her mid-thirties who basically invites herself up to Adrian’s apartment. He realizes that she is rather intoxicated, so in true Adrian fashion, he feels it would be wrong to sleep with her. In the middle of the night, Adrian wakes up to find this woman, whose name he figures out is Lorena, standing on his balustrade and ready to jump to her death. After he talks her off the ledge, Adrian finds that he can’t stop thinking about Lorena even though he doesn’t know very much about her.<br /><br />It turns out that Lorena has tried to barely squeak out a living by modeling for small companies and catalogues. She has had a tough life and her latest relationship ended disastrously when she found out her boyfriend had a wife and three children. Lorena teams up with a small-time con artist named Pedroni and together they decide to try and swindle Adrian out of some of his money. But Lorena seems to have fallen for Adrian, more so than she is willing to admit to herself, and we are left wondering if she can really cheat him after all.<br /><br />Adrian and Lorena also become involved in an attempted art forgery and a great part of the suspense of the book lies in wondering whether or not Adrian’s keen eye for art will be able to detect the forgery and stop the sale of this piece before it ruins his career. But Lorena’s influence has most definitely thrown some chaos into his otherwise ordered and neat life. The circumstances surrounding the forged art, the sexual tension between Adrian and Lorena and the fascinating character of Adrian himself kept me wondering what was going to happen and wanting more.<br /><br />I highly recommend that everyone put this on their “to read” pile for 2016. There are just so many interesting aspects to this story-from the strong characters to the intricate descriptions of art to a mystery of an art fraud. New Vessel Press has quickly become one of my favorite independent presses and with THE LAST WEYNFELDT they have chosen another fantastic book to bring us in translation.<br />

Adrian Weynfeldt initially comes across as empathetic, passive almost a misfit, suffering from bouts of melancholy, he’s a bit lonely. A true gentleman, he can’t seem to shake his proper upbringing mixed with painful moments of the phases of his life. As we become more intimate with Adrian we learn he is quite street smart, savvy and a keen observer, extremely aware of both self as well as surroundings including peers. His stealth side really kicks in when he becomes involved with the dicey Lorena. Lorena a blatant user borderline grifter, however she displays a conscious, which is questionable in its intent. When these two first meet you wonder if they will ultimately compliment each other, but we quickly discover differently. Slowly the tables turn and Adrian becomes the puppet master.<br /><br />Great twist, a wonderfully crafted story proving the good guy finishes last and prevails, along with judging a book by its cover isn’t always wise. Adrian is memorable without a doubt.<br /><br />Suter entertains the reader through his details and characters. He strings the peruser along creating a build up, including a few twist and turns until the curtain reveals the apex towards the end providing a more than satisfying reading adventure. Excellent glimpse into the captivating art world.

I wanted to read a book by a Swiss author and so decided to read Martin Suter's 'The Last Weynfeldt'.<br /><br />Adrian Weynfeldt is an art expert. He helps in writing art catalogues, valuing works of art, organizing art auctions. He is in his fifties. He is a man of simple, steady habits. One day, very surprisingly, he comes home with a beautiful woman. The next day morning, when he gets up, he discovers that the woman is standing at the balcony, ready to take the plunge. Adrian tries to talk her down. The strange sequence of events which arise from this and which flow rapidly takes us into the art world, the world of painters and paintings and art auctions and art forgeries.<br /><br />'The Last Weynfeldt' is kind of a thriller. A sleek one though. The start is spectacular and though the rest of the book can't keep up with that, it is still interesting. There is a lot of information in the book about Swiss art and artists. There is also a lot of information about furniture designers and architects. One of the things I loved was the description of food. Martin Suter takes a lot of pleasure in writing about food. I made a list of things that I'd like to try. Especially ravioli ricotta with sage butter (have never tried sage butter), buckwheat blini (have tried blini and I love it, but I don't think I've tried buckwheat blini), Birnbrot (pastry filled with dry pears – sounds wonderful!). The characters in the book are interesting – I especially liked Adrian, his housekeeper Frau Hauser who behaves like his mom, being affectionate and tough at the same time, his secretary Veronique, and the beautiful woman who tries jumping out of his balcony, Lorena. The story has a surprising fascinating ending, but I won't tell you what ?<br /><br />I enjoyed reading 'The Last Weynfeldt'. I won't call it my favourite thriller, but it was pleasant reading for a Sunday afternoon.<br /><br />I'll leave you with a couple of my favourite passages from the book.<br /><br />"He believed that regularity prolonged life. There was also the opposing theory: regularity makes each day indistinguishable, and the more events and habits are repeated, the more the days resemble each other and the years too. Till your whole life feels like one single year. Weynfeldt didn’t believe this. If you do the same things more often, go to the same places and meet the same people, the differences become subtler each time. And if the differences are subtler then time passes unnoticed. Someone you see every month instead of every year never appears to age. And you never appear to age to them. Repetition slows down the passage of time. Weynfeldt was absolutely convinced of this. Change might make life more eventful, but it undoubtedly made it shorter too."<br /><br />"Adrian was waiting for Lorena to call, and waiting was not an activity for him; it was a state, not such an unpleasant one. Like flying. As soon as he boarded an airplane, he was placed in a state of absolute passivity. Of course he ate the food served him, and read a newspaper, or a book. But he was passive as far as flying itself was concerned. He knew there was nothing he could do to influence it and delegated it unconditionally to those who could."<br /><br />Have you read 'The Last Weynfeldt'? What do you think about it?

Mit Adrian Weynfeldt, Mitte 50, letzter Nachkomme einer reichen Industriellenfamilie und Kunstexperte, haben wir hier einen sehr interessanten Protagonisten. Der Züricher ist ausgesprochen höflich, unfassbar freigebig und lebt gerne in seiner Routine. Ich fand ihn als Hauptfigur sehr überzeugend.<br />Er gerät an eine ihm sehr gegensätzliche Person, nämlich Lorena, mehr Schein als Sein, chronisch pleite und ziemlich deprimiert - bis hin zu selbstmordgefährdet. Sie bringt alles durcheinander. Er hilft ihr aus der Klemme, immer wieder, ohne Fragen zu stellen. Sie ist nicht die einzige, die ihm wohlgesinnt sein sollte - und doch zweifelhafte Absichten verfolgt…<br /><br />Die Geschichte plätschert so vor sich hin, das sollte man wissen. Mich hat es nicht gestört, Suters Schreibstil hat mich, obwohl er wirklich gerne beschreibt, gefesselt. Ich habe die ruhige Story gespannt mitverfolgt. Die meisten Entwicklungen lassen sich nach und nach absehen, große Überraschungen gab es für mich nicht. Ich habe mich aber trotzdem sehr gut unterhalten gefühlt, der Autor ist ein toller Geschichtenerzähler.<br /><br />„Der letzte Weynfeldt“ wird definitiv nicht mein letzter Suter gewesen sein.