“Everything was different back then, but everything was the same.”
Chapter Summaries
Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer is a fragmented, multi-perspective novel set in an unnamed German city, chronicling the lives of sex workers, pimps, and urban drifters amid the city’s shifting economic and social landscape. The book unfolds in a non-linear fashion, blending vignettes, monologues, and documentary-style accounts.
Early Chapters: The Rise of the Scene
The opening chapters introduce the city’s red-light district in the 1990s, focusing on small-time pimps, brothel owners, and sex workers. Meyer depicts the chaotic energy of the post-reunification era, where capitalism and desperation collide. Characters like the aging pimp “Big Henry” and the young runaway “Lena” navigate a world of fleeting alliances and exploitation.
Middle Chapters: Expansion and Decline
As the city undergoes gentrification, the sex trade evolves—some brothels become upscale clubs, while others are pushed underground. Meyer shifts perspectives, including a corrupt property developer and a disillusioned police officer. The narrative fractures further, mimicking the disintegration of the old order.
Later Chapters: Fragmentation and Survival
By the 2000s, the district is nearly unrecognizable. Former players are either dead, imprisoned, or struggling to adapt. The final chapters are melancholic, with characters reflecting on lost time. The novel ends without resolution, mirroring the cyclical nature of urban decay and reinvention.
Key Ideas
- The commodification of bodies and urban spaces under capitalism.
- The cyclical nature of exploitation and survival in marginalized communities.
- The impact of gentrification on underground economies.
- The blurred lines between victimhood and agency in sex work.
- The fragmented structure as a reflection of memory and urban chaos.
Who should read this book?
- Readers interested in gritty, socially critical German literature.
- Those drawn to non-linear narratives and experimental storytelling.
- Fans of urban realism and unflinching depictions of marginalized lives.