The Luneburg Variation [Paperback]

Paolo Maurensig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1998

At the opening of this amazing fiction, a cadaver is discovered, the body of a wealthy businessman from Vienna, apparently a suicide without plausible motivation. Next to the body is a chessboard made of rags with buttons for pieces whose positions on the board may hold the only clue. As the plot of this passionately colored, coolly controlled thriller unfolds, we meet two chess players--one a clever, persecuted Jew, the other a ruthless, persecuting German--who have faced each other many times before and played for stakes that are nothing less than life itself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A man is found shot in his garden, in a village not far from Vienna. Unable to be defined as either a suicide or a homicide, the death is called one of "mysterious circumstances." The garden--unlike the prominent citizen's life--is highly unusual, a "concentric maze of ten-foot-high hedges leading to a chessboard-shaped clearing paved with squares of white and black marble." Frisch, the murdered man, was obsessed with chess, and the novel's chilling first sentence--"They say that chess was born in bloodshed"--bears this out.

In this first novel, Paolo Maurensig coolly executes the ultimate drama of manipulation--life as a game of chess. On this armature, he hangs a tale of vengeance set against a backdrop of historic villainy, Nazi against Jew. The two chess players are as black and white as can be--a persecuted Jew and a ruthless, persecuting German who first "duel" over a chessboard in an international tournament, and then in a concentration camp. The narrative is a meticulous reconstruction of the moments and background events that led to Frisch's death. Ingeniously referring everything back to the machinations and executions of movements in a chess game, life itself is at stake as the inescapable sins of the past catch up with the chess-obsessed characters. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

No one has rendered more vivid the classic metaphor of war as a game of chess than Maurensig in this suspenseful first novel, published in Italy in 1993 and appearing here in a highly readable translation. The tale of former Jewish concentration camp inmate Tabori and Nazi nemesis Frisch is brought to sinister life in the tradition of mystery masters Paul Auster and Ruth Rendell, e.g., events occur in random order, as pieces of a puzzle for the reader to solve. The story portrays periods in the lives of the two professional competitors, who eventually meet in a brutal psychological endgame. The climax reveals the stakes of their tortuous tournament as the very privilege of remaining alive. Chess fans will enjoy this thriller, and it may prod checkers aficionados into taking the next step.?Margaret A. Smith, Grace A. Dow Memorial Lib., Midland, Mich.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (November 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805060286
• ISBN-13: 978-0805060287
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great debut, August 21, 2000

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Luneburg Variation (Hardcover)

This is the first novel by Mr. Maurensig, and it is enjoyable even though it is too brief. The comment on brevity is not a complaint; I just wish it had been longer.

The Author uses some familiar ideas and locations for this short story, but he is able to do so without sounding cliché. Using a train for the locale of an unfolding mystery is familiar, as is the most complex of games, chess, with which the Author unwinds his story. When he is done the result is a very enjoyable albeit a brief read.

The read is not as cliché as some of the commercial reviews would have you believe. I am bothered that the same reviewers found it necessary to expose so much of the story; it is after all only 140 pages. It is true that some elements have been used before, but that is true of every book that has been written. Every book in English uses the same words, it's the arrangement of them that matters. A bad Author with a new idea produces nothing of interest, a talented Author like Mr. Maurensig can take what is familiar and make it fresh.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You will enjoy it., February 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Luneburg Variation (Hardcover)

A short, nicely written book. I couldn't put it down during the last 40 pages. I recommend it. A better, but much longer book, is "The Eight" -- another mystery with a chess theme. "The Queen's Gambit" by W. Tevis is also good.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and chilling piece of fiction, February 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Luneburg Variation (Hardcover)

This book had me going right up till the end, and even then when I had finished I wanted to keep on reading. I thought at first that I was missing the last part of the book. But don't let the unorthodox ending deter you from this fine work. The characters and actions span a period of fifty years from the outbreak of WWII until the present. Effortlessly the author moves us from scene to the next with the precision of a grandmaster that has seen mate ten moves ahead. The characters are masterfully crafted in an artful chiaroscuro, which reveals just enough to tease the reader's appetite and leaving us aching to see into the shadows that remain. Not all the questions are answered in the end but enough are. It is refreshing to be forced to think as a reader, instead of being spoon-fed every point as if we were mindless infants. The story is strong and the blending of the chess games with the deadlier games the characters engage in is delightful. This book certainly ranks up there with the likes of other mysteries, most notably The Flanders Panel. The translation is smooth and clearly leaves the author's distinct voice to shine through. A great book for a raining night by the fire.