Science Fiction: You Should Have Left By Daniel Kehlmann

(Drivebycuriosity) - I just finished reading the book "You should have left" by the German author Daniel Kehlmann (amazon). I choose the novella because I had enjoyed Kehlmann`s book  "Measuring The World" about the explorer Alexander von Humboldt & the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, a blend of biography & fiction (driveby).

"You should have left" is a very different tale, a mixture of paranormal, horror & science fiction story, set in a remote house in the Swiss mountains. The story is told in first person by a screen writer who vacates there with his wife and his 4 years old daughter. He reports about his job,  his marriage, his kid and what strange things are happening in this house.

I have read the basic idea before in a classic science fiction story by Robert Heinlein, written in the year 1941 (I don´t tell you which story, this is a spoiler free blog). But I don´t have a problem with that. While Heinlein developed a funny tale, based on mathematics, Kehlmann focuses on the horror & paranormal aspects. He elaborates the basic idea and includes ideas from modern physics and science fiction. Kehlman`s precise style and the slowly raising tension kept me on edge. I enjoyed the short tale and I plan to read more by this author.

PS: For illustration I used a segment of  Peter Doig`s painting "Red House".