This novella reads almost like an Anthony Powell pastiche: the very conventional narrator Nikko, a lawyer, tells us about his disreputable friend, the poet Felix Sterremeer (who later reinvents himself as "Starlake"), whom he bumps into from time to time over the course of many years, in the Netherlands and then in New York, observing the unfolding tragedy of Felix's unhappy marriage to a rich young American woman who had thought she was getting the new Hölderlin but ended up with the new Heinrich Stieglitz. Which of course leads her to take on the role of Charlotte S.

A nicely paced and elegantly furnished story, with plenty of fun stuff to keep us amused — there's even a walk-on for Alma Mahler-Werfel — but perhaps a trifle old-fashioned for 1998. ( )

A first, when I started reading this book, I didn't like it at all. I did not get through the first 5 pages and put it aside to try again later.

That later has now come: I have now read it. I thought it was good, impressive, but also a very depressing book. The main character Sterremeer wants to be / become a poet very badly and is prepared to do just about everything to reach that goal. He is not recognised as a poet, even laughed at in literary circles in the Netherlands.

His story is one that brings him all over the globe in various trades. But when he meets the American Robie, he emigrates to America marries her. Life is laughing at him again (kind of the American dream coming true for an immigrant...) . His poetry gets published.
Nikko, the narrator of the story meets Sterremeer at various points in his life, also on the boat to America. Their friendship is getting closer again, their wives and children also get along well.

Up to a certain point all goes well. Then Robie decides to reveal a terrible secret. Sterremeer's world falls apart and he and his daughter (let alone Robie) never really recover. ( )