Several German sailors wander through Europe after a shipwreck in Weiner's murky, surreal second novel (after Museum of Love), set at the beginning of WWI. The novel opens with the demise of the Yellow Sailor, a merchant ship from Bremen that runs aground in shallow water on the East Prussian coast, leaving the protagonists lost and adrift in the war-torn landscape. The primary focus falls on Nicholas Bremml, a moody 19-year-old with a sardonic, romantic streak. He drifts from woman to woman and falls in love with a prostitute while working on an oil tanker, then ends up selling magic charms on the Jewish black market before enlisting in a Czech regiment. The fate of Julius Bernai, the shady, gay owner of the ship, is no less checkered. He exploits his power over the local soldiers to maintain his position until he finally has a nervous breakdown and falls in love with a doctor's fiancée. Several other crewmen have similar problems rebuilding their fractured lives, most notably the ship's electrician, who becomes involved in a bizarre murder. Most of the novel follows their meanderings as they try to make sense of the grotesque parody of normal life in which they find themselves adrift, with Weiner tending toward the dreamlike and macabre in his imagery and scene construction. He pelts readers with short, staccato sentences throughout: "They had a schnapps. It was time to go. Sedez dressed. Sedez bowed. Sedez left." Many passages offer striking visuals and decadent plot twists, but there are also plenty of scenes that fail to rise above the level of vivid sketches. Bremml's disconnected story is the closest Weiner comes to a coherent subplot, and despite the potential offered by the setting and the period, some readers may find themselves bewildered by the lack of narrative coherence. (Sept. 20)
