Maserati or Love

Born in 1960 to Russian-Jewish parents, Maxim Biller has written many controversial novels including "Bernsteintage" (2004), "Moralische Geschichten" (2005)and "Esra" which was pulled off the shelves shortly after publication. His story "The Maserati Years", published in the September 24th edition of The New Yorker, is about German actor who lies in bed all day with the balcony door open, as he makes small clouds over and over with his breathe. He seems to live by the "if I don't see it, it didn't happen" moto when he ignores all the text messages he gets from work. His only reason for not wanting to get up is it is simply too cold, figuring they can't do anything without him. I really enjoyed Biller's alternative writing style and distant tone, a tone that is listless and lathargic. The actor is displayed as a typical actor lacking motivation and emoboding a selfcentered ego. He thinks about the fact that he may very well ahve to sell his car when he thinks he may be having a child. The story contains actual exchange of dialect which I believe was used by Biller, along with the absent kiss by his girlfriend, as symbols of the German's isolation. I throughly enjoyed this unique take on life, that lesson that we all hate to recognize that we have to do things we don't always want to.