James Lasdun's 'Seven Lies' is about a young East German in the 80s who longs to restart his life in New York City. It has a political sub-theme, lots of Lasdun-navel-gazing, a bit of depressing romance, and an interesting family angle. Having been horrified by the cardboard characters in his noted 'Horned Man' I wanted to take another whack at Lasdun because his vocabulary and structure is kind of challenging. The characters in this one moved around in that same false way, but at least the backgrounds and historical angle were worthwhile. Around page 57 I knew how Stefan, the main character, would end up and I suspect you will too. But it still was an average-good read.

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