The Archive of Feelings

In Stamm’s affecting latest (after The Sweet Indifference of the World), a middle-aged archivist reminiscences about a former love who’s now a famous singer. When the unnamed narrator’s archival work for a newspaper becomes irrelevant in the digital age, he rescues the thousands of files slated for destruction by moving them into his basement. Among the clippings he finds is a folder dedicated to his high school flame Franziska, who three decades earlier emerged as the next great sensation in Swiss pop. She’s still popular, and he imagines her appearing now, 40 years later, affectionately teasing him and confessing buried feelings. He wanders the unnamed city and remembers watching fireworks from atop an apartment building and the time he and Franziska were forced to share a bed in a tiny hotel. Though the narrator’s observations can feel a bit maudlin, a brief and thorny romance with a mutual acquaintance of his and Franziska’s adds intrigue as the action builds toward a high school reunion where he hopes to see the singer. Despite a slow start, the looming promise of these old friends being reunited energizes the action, and Stamm delivers a striking and earnest conclusion. Fans of the author will love this efficient and wistful work. (Dec.)