Lázár by Nelio Biedermann

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann is like on everyone´s German speaking book list this summer and as usual, I couldn´t resist such a bookish temptation. Since the launch of the book in 2025, the 22-year old Swiss author is a literary sensation. The book was last year, among other prestigious nominations and awards, on the Schweizer Buch Preis list. Lázár is Biedermann´s second published novel.

I had one additional reason to read this book besides the German-speaking realm fame: it is set in Hungary/Austro-Hungarian Empires/Central Europe, a region that will always remain my big academic love. 

The author´s family, on the father´s side, is of noble Hungarian origin, refugiated to Switzerland in the 1950s. Lázár follows a family history during one century, from the times of the Austro-Hungarian empire until the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The format may remind of the Miklós Bánffy´s Transylvanian Trilogy that hopefully will review it one day part of my CLASSIC READS series (eventually with some additional reading in Hungarian).

The ambiance of Lázár is similar to many books set during this period in this geographical realm, therefore relatable and so is the behavior of most of the characters, suffering of a timeless mal-de-siècle.

But, but, but...I felt for the duration of the 300-page of the novel operating mostly in a bubble. Although towards the end of the book there are more characters relating to the noble family, most of the time they behave as being in a bubble, without too much interaction - and social reflection of their immediate environment. Many locations are vague, unclear, lacking any specific individuality and therefore largely unauthentic.

The sex is true and it keeps busy many of the characters, almost most of the time. Which is fine, but for many characters it seems like this was the only reason why they existed in the story; they had sex once and again, and then few years later they died - not necessarily due to the sex activity. 

Hence, the book missed for me some depth, although it is not easy to emulate the style and talent of the Central European literates. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the literature based in this region is still of interest and may create such a high wave of literary interest.

Rating: 3 stars