Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Books: F: A Novel By Daniel Kehlmann


(Drivebycuriosity) -  I am a fan of Daniel Kehlmann. I enjoyed his biography
"Measuring the World" about the German scientist & explorer Alexander Humboldt (here my  review),  his horror fantasy "You should have left" (driveby  ) and even more his master piece, the historical novel "Tyll" ( driveby ).  This brought my attention to "F: A Novel" his newest book (amazon). Unfortunately "F" didn`t work for me.

"F" stands apparently for family. The book consists of 6 loosely connected chapters which relate more or less to Arthur Friedman and his sons. There is no ongoing plot, the book reads like a sample of notes Kehlmann might have written in the recent years - maybe ideas for short stories, plays and novels. Kehlmann still can write and there are some interesting ideas - including observations about art dealers and their market - but the pieces don´t fit together.

The book is a reminder of the fact that even strong authors don´t guarantee constant quality. I hope Kehlmann will come back to his strengths as a novelist.

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