F

by Daniel Kehlmann, Sonali Bertuol (Translator)

Quando o aspirante a escritor Arthur Friedland levou seus filhos para assistir ao show do grande mestre hipnotizador Lindemann, considerava-se completamente imune à hipnose e de bom grado se submete aos poderes do especialista. No entanto, quando este traz à tona seus desejos mais profundos e ordena-o que os realize, Arthur desaparece com as economias da família e se torna um autor místico mundialmente famoso.

Genres: Fiction, German Literature, Contemporary, Germany, Literary Fiction, Novels, Roman

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Daniel Kehlmann is a German-Austrian author.

His novel Measuring the World (German: Die Vermessung der Welt) was translated into more than forty languages. Awards his work has received include the Candide Prize, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Heimito von Doderer Literature Award, the Kleist Prize, the WELT Literature Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize. Kehlmann divides his time between Vienna and Berlin.

Reviews

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A German man has three sons by two women. He has identical twins by his current wife. The man is basically a doofus, a dreamer, a would-be writer who doesn’t write. He’s an occasional dad and one day takes the three boys to a hypnotist. He and one of the boys end up on stage in what turns out to be a frightening and embarrassing experience. Shortly afterwards the father abandons the boys and their mothers and disappears.

We fast-forward to their life when the boys are now middle aged. We find out that F is for fraud, faithless and forgery. One is fat (there’s another F); he’s a timid, faithless priest who is still waiting one day to believe. The two twins still look alike and often have identical thoughts but one is straight and one is gay. The straight man is a financial advisor running a Ponzi scheme and dependent on a fistful of pharmaceuticals to get through the day; the other is an art forger.

In the intervening years the father has become a famous author. His latest book, My Name is No One, is all the rage. It’s a nihilist treatise: I don’t exist and neither do you. It provokes a wave of suicides.



There’s not a lot of plot. We follow the three men as they occasionally interact with each other and as their father pops into their lives unexpectedly for a day a year and then disappears again. Each wrestles with the daily tension of living their fraudulent lives. The author uses an interesting technique in showing us conversation from both sides: first we see it from the perspective of the brother who made the call, for example, and then from the perspective of the brother who received the call. “What we have here is a lack of communication.” Some of the critical action centers around one key day in which some magical realism crops up as all three get involved at different times and in different places with the same group of thugs and some with the hypnotist. It ends badly for one of the three.

A good read; it kept my interest and maybe even (another F coming) a fascinating read. Kehlmann is best known for his 2006 work, Measuring the World, which won a number of book awards and was translated into 40 languages.

(Image of downtown Frankfurt from Depositphotos)

[AiK · Rating 2 out of 5]

На мой взгляд, книга – вымученная, закрученная по моде, чтобы нелинейно повествовать, но с неразвитыми идеями и непонятыми героями. Писатель Артур Фридлянд после посещения с сыновьями Мартином, Эриком и Ивейном представления гипнотизера «исчезает», а если прямо называть вещи своими именами. попросту бросает семью, чтобы заняться творчеством. Довольно безответственный поступок. Сыновья вырастают, становятся один священником, при том неверящим в Бога, второй художником, подписывающим картины именем своего любовника, третий инвестиционным банкиром, проигравшим деньги клиентов, но выкрутившимся от судебного преследования и отделавшимся просто банкротством за счет мирового финансового кризиса. В общем, нереализовавшие свой потенциал неудачники. «Ф» можно трактовать от слова Fatum, вроде как идея, что судьба зависит от случайных встреч и гипнотизер помог понять желание писать. За эти годы он пишет книгу «Я называюсь «Никто» с главным героем Ф.. Отец возвращается. Но при таком раскладе судьба здесь не причем, здесь есть выбор – уйти, написать книгу, вернуться, и у детей также есть свои варианты выбора. Они идут к тому же гипнотизеру, который постарел и перестал выступать, но зарабатывает на хлеб гаданием на картах Таро, и Мари спрашивает, какое у нее будущее. Артур отвечает : «придумай его сама». Так что нет судьбы. Есть действия, которые определяют судьбу.

[Anna Carina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der beste Kehlmann, den ich bisher las.
Was für ein Spaß!
Wenn die Götter Dir auf deiner Odyssee des Lebens mal hold sein, ins Schicksal eingreifen wollen und sich vertun.... "Hätte, hätte Fahrradkette"... Zufälle halt. Kommt nix im Universum gegen an. Aber irgend ne Erklärung findet sich schon. Muss ja.
Dieser Part um unsere Verlogenheiten und das Bedürfnis sich selbst zu täuschen und getäuscht zu werden, erinnert mich stark an Abspann. Kann das als ergänzende Lektüre sehr empfehlen. Ist jedenfalls genauso ironisch aufgeladen wie "F".
In dem Buch steckt so viel Gesellschaftskritik, lauter Absurditäten des Lebens und menschlichen Verhaltens. Das ist nen Buch das mehrmals gelesen werden muss, um die ganzen Feinheiten rauszuarbeiten.
So, und jetzt das Glaubensbekenntnis.... hrhrhrhr.....

[Semjon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vater geht mit seinen drei Teenager-Söhnen zu einer Show eines Hypnotiseurs, bekommt da als unfreiwilliger Zuschauer auf die Bühne einen Autonomieauftrag eingeflößt, worauf er die Söhne zu Hause absetzt und für immer verschwindet, um seinen Traum als Schriftsteller zu verwirklichen. Cut. Über 20 Jahre später erleben wir einen heißen Sommertag aus Sicht der drei Söhne, nacheinander erzählt von dem ungläubigen, katholischen Priester Martin, von dem risikofreudigen, sich verspekulierenden Finanzberater Eric und von dessen Zwillingsbruder und Kunstfälscher Iwan.

Soweit die Handlung, die eigentlich eine recht konventionelle Geschichte einer gescheiterten Familie sein könnte. Doch es wäre kein Roman von Daniel Kehlmann, wenn es nicht irgendetwas Besonderes an der Erzählform geben würde. Und das ist die meiner Ansicht die völlige Unbestimmbarkeit, warum Kehlmann uns diese Geschichte erzählt. Schon alleine der mysteriöse Ein-Buchstaben-Buchtitel wirft Fragen auf, die garantiert nicht definitiv beantwortet werden. Für was steht das F? Familie, Fake, Fälscher, Falschspieler, Fremdgeher, Fatum, Fiktion? Es könnte alles sein oder gar nichts davon. Im Grunde üben alle drei Brüder keinen Beruf aus, der ihre Berufung ist. Sie sind Blender, Lügner, Scharlatane und es bleibt ihnen die Autonomie verschlossen, die ihr Vater sich ohne Rücksicht auf die Familie genommen hat. War also der Gang zum Hypnotiseur ein unausweichliches Schicksal oder Zufall? Was bestimmt den Menschen auf seinem Lebensweg? Für was oder warum ist er auf diese Welt geworfen worden? Wie kann man Bedeutung für sein Leben gewinnen?

Das sind zumindest Fragen, die mir durch den Kopf gingen beim Lesen. Ich bin sicher, dass andere Leser/innen sich andere Fragen stellen. Auf jeden Fall muss man Spaß daran haben, dieses Buch als Gedankenspiel anzunehmen und sich selbst eine Schlussfolgerung daraus zu bauen. Man bekommt keine vorgefertigten Erklärungen von Daniel Kehlmann und letztlich fühlt man sich so hilflos durch den Tag taumelnd wie der Finanzhai Eric, der die Schlinge seiner Anlagebetrügereien langsam um den Hals verspürt und der bedingt durch haltlosen Tablettenkonsum nicht mehr zwischen Realität und kafkaesken Tagträumen unterscheiden kann. Und diese Szenen der Selbstgespräche, die immer panischer werden, immer mehr um sich selbst kreisen, haben meinen Herzschlag erhöht. Man kann sich total in die Gedankenkonstrukte der drei Brüder hineinversetzen. Für mich war das ein unheimlicher Spaß.

Spaß hatte bestimmt auch Daniel Kehlmann dabei, unzählige Anspielungen auf andere Meisterwerke der Literatur einfließen zu lassen. Je belesener, desto mehr Freude macht das natürlich. Bestimmt habe ich nicht alle Andeutungen verstanden, schon alleine dieser Hinweis auf die Artussaga, mit Arthur Friedwald (Vater = König) und seinen Rittern Eric und Iwan aus der Tafelrunde. Und Martin? Ist der Merlin? Ich weiß es nicht. Während bestimmt manche Leser/innen daran verzweifeln, keine Antworten zu erhalten, kann ich mit der Offenheit gut leben und mich daran freuen, einen hervorragend erzählten Roman gelesen zu haben, der meine Fantasie beflügelt hat. Daniel Kehlmann und ich, dass scheint zu passen, auch beim vierten Roman.

[switterbug (Betsey) · Rating 3 out of 5]

German-Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann is already known for his surreal, tragicomic, and subtly macabre style of writing. He wrote a book called FAME, which also begins with an F. F in this book does refer to fame, as well as family, fate, forgery, faith, fear, and Friedland. And I’m sure I will think of some other F words later on. It’s a dense story presented in a deft, lyrical manner, folding some of the ideas of historic philosophers (such as Nietzsche and Hegel) into a thinking man’s existential, metaphysical mystery. Moreover, the meaning and interpretations of art, beauty, and the very act of existence give the reader a lot of lofty ideas and contradictions to ponder.

Aurthur Friedland is a morose and unsuccessful writer with three sons. Martin, the eldest, was born from the first woman Arthur left. As the novel opens, Arthur is living with his second wife, the mother of their identical twins, Ivan an Eric. After taking Martin and the twins to a hypnotist, he abandons his second wife, all three of his kids, and becomes a successful author. Once they mature into adults, Arthur’s offspring receive surprise visits from him at irregular intervals.

Martin finds solace in food, and as an adult is quite obese. He becomes a Catholic priest, despite his atheism. He keeps hoping that his “faith” will stir his belief. He is also adept at the Rubik’s cube, and regularly enters tournaments. Eric grows into a wealthy investor, but is on the verge of becoming a fugitive in 2008, as his fraudulent (Ponzi) investments are about to blow up in his face. Ivan, the scholar, has a passion for art, but is tortured by the belief that he can only be a mediocre artist. So, he commits to art forgery.

Arthur’s lucrative book, which has also instigated a rash of suicides, is titled My Name is No One. It is steeped in meta-fiction, and is an essential construct of Kehlmann’s book.

“The sentences are well-constructed, the narrative has a powerful flow, the reader would be enjoying the text were it not for the persistent feeling of somehow being mocked.”

I admit that this was an aspect of my experience reading F. However, I don’t mind being mocked, as long as the author is also mocking his own experiences, which I suspect may be so. And that he feels a bond with the reader, which is evident:

“But there is a sense that no sentence means merely what it says, that the story is observing its own progress, and that in truth the protagonist is not the central figure: the central figure is the reader, who is all too complicit in the unfolding of events.”

F is the sixth letter of the alphabet, and there are six members of this immediate family (Arthur, his three sons, and the two mothers), and there are also six sides to a Rubik’s Cube. Too, there are six chapters to this book. Whether this is purposeful symbolism by the author or just a flash of my own ideas, I can’t know for sure. However, what is recurrent is this idea of whether or not we exist. This is a central motif, which is observable through the jungle of elliptical themes that Kehlmann purveys. Kehlmann is an agent of Consciousness, and all the 3D rabbit holes in the brain's abyss. The end may leave you alarmed, or wanting, or a little bit of both.

Kudos to Carol Brown Janeway, who melodically translated the book from the German.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

F is for...

“Then listen to me,” Lindemann put a hand on Arthur's shoulder. “This is an order, and you're going to follow it because you want to follow it, and you want to because I'm ordering you, and I'm ordering you because you want me to give the order. Starting today, you're going to make an effort. No matter what it costs.”

When unsuccessful author Arthur Friedland takes his three young sons to see a stage hypnotist, he doesn't expect it to change his life. But a couple of hours later, he lets the boys out of the car and drives off, not to be seen or heard of again for years. The three boys, identical twins Ivan and Eric and their half-brother Martin, are young adults when suddenly Arthur's new book 'My Name is No One' becomes a sensation. With its message that no-one exists, not even the reader, it achieves notoriety when it provokes a brief spate of suicides. And incorporated into the book is a history of Arthur's forebears, stretching back for centuries, showing how eventually, in one way or another, they all went away and 'never came back'. But, you know, perhaps they do...

We next meet the sons when they are in their middle years, the promise of youth having faded into failure for each. Martin, a priest who doesn't believe in God, sees the other men of his generation advancing in the Church while he grows fat and breathless, and spends his life hoping no-one asks him any questions about the meaning of his faith (though he has a stock answer that stands him in good stead – 'It's a Mystery!'). To outward appearances, Eric is a successful financial broker, but in reality he has been defrauding his clients for years and fears he's about to be found out. In a constant state of near hallucination due to over-indulgence in prescription drugs, he's finding it harder and harder to distinguish reality from his nightmarish fantasies. Ivan realised early that he would never be a great artist, so has turned to forgery and fraud to make his fortune. It's all going well, but that's about to change.

The reader keeps trying to make sense of it all. Perhaps the hero died. Perhaps the inconsistencies are harbingers of the end, the first defective spots, so to speak, before the entire warp and woof unravels. For what, the author seems to be asking, is death, if not an abrupt break in the middle of a sentence which the reader cannot elide, a soundless apocalypse in which it isn't humanity that disappears from the world, but the world itself that disappears, an end of all things that has no end?

This is a brilliant novel, sparkling with wit and intelligence. The fact that I have no idea what it's about really didn't affect my enjoyment of it in any way. F is for family, or failure, or faith, or fraud, or fear, or fate. Or possibly it isn't. For fun (two more Fs), I looked to see what the professional reviewers were saying. The quotes in the book have Ian McEwan calling it 'strange and beautiful' – agreed – while Adam Thirlwell, with much more alliterative elegance, describes it as 'a family saga, a fable and a high-speed farce' – again agreed. The Guardian thinks it's about the death of God, The New York Times thinks the ending may suggest that faith is the solution after all, and The Telegraph wimps out completely by deciding it provokes us to find 'meanings of our own'. The sad fact is that I agree with all of these too.

The main part of the book takes place over three lengthy chapters, each told from the viewpoint of one of the brothers and each covering the same short time-frame. During that period an event happens that has ramifications for all three but, although the reader knows what happened, the brothers don't, and this is partly what gives the book its air of slight farce. The writing is superb – Kehlmann can squeeze a mountain of characterisation into a few telling phrases, allowing him plenty of space to treat us to some fairly tongue-in-cheek philosophical asides. And he forces the reader to collude with him in mocking, but affectionately, the worlds of art, literature and religion. The translation by Carol Brown Janeway is seamless – there isn't a single clunky phrase or passage in the entire book.

...and Arthur described his idea to write a book that would be a message to a single human being, in which therefore all the artistry would serve as mere camouflage, so that nobody aside from this one person could decode it, and this very fact paradoxically would make the book a high literary achievement. Asked what the message would be, he said that would depend on the recipient. When asked who the recipient would be, he said that would depend on the message.

One final review, a concise 5-worder this time from a fellow Amazon UK reviewer, miss jacynta mcmahon, says 'This book is impossibly pretentious'. And, do you know, I tend to agree with that too – except I'd add that it's knowingly pretentious, inviting us to laugh at its pretentions, as a reflection of the world that its being pretentious about. It's also absurd, marginally surreal at points, wickedly funny and superbly written. And one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time...

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Quercus.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[J M Notter · Rating 5 out of 5]

F ist so ein Buch, dass mich teilweise nach einem halben Jahr immer noch sehr beschäftigt.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book 5 stars for a number of reasons. It is wonderfully written (there must be credit to the translator here, too), cleverly structured and has great characters (even if they aren't really all that pleasant). Plus, it leaves enough loose ends to keep you thinking about it for quite some time after you finish it: I love books that don't feel the need to explain everything.

I used to think I struggled with books where none of the characters was "good". But then I realised that it was actually when I didn't care about any of the characters. In this book, there aren't really any "goodies" and the central four characters are all weak in their own ways. But they are excellently written and I found that I did care about them.

No spoilers, but it is a clever story that centres around a repetition of a day seen from three brothers' viewpoints. There's a lead in and a follow up. And there's a lot more besides.

[Mark Hebwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's this about, then?

When Daniel's novel F came out, German intellectual weekly broadsheet "Die Zeit" wrote:

Like all great novels, 'F' can be interpreted in many ways. In the best sense of the word, this is an insane metanovel, a novel which is basically about everything

When I read that, I thought "you're not selling this to me - doesn't seem as if Daniel had a clear idea what to write about in this one..." After finishing the novel, however, I have a little bit more sympathy with the Zeit-writer. I wouldn't say it is about everything, but it sure is difficult to pin down.

Now, Daniel is, for the most part, a literary writer. With the exception of Die Vermessung der Welt, all his novels were about something, the story stood for something else, served as a metaphor or an allegory. Sometimes he did this well, as in Ich und Kaminsky, sometimes it seemed as if Daniel was still finding his groove as a writer, as in Beerholms Vorstellung and Mahlers Zeit, and in Ruhm he attained true brilliance. But whether he did a good, excellent, or inspired job, we always knew what the story was about. And those who read all his novels notice that he is interested in certain themes, that he likes to think about the relationship between reality and the perception of reality.

Does this insight help me? Is this again the theme here? Well, maybe, sometimes, but it is not consistently present, and I don't think so. What about the title? Maybe that's a clue - literary writers can be a bit self-absorbed sometimes and like to invite the reader to solve a riddle. Hm. "F", it turns out, is the protagonist of a novel inside the novel, a novel written by a chap who leaves his family to focus on his writing. So there's the "meta"-link the Zeitchap wrote about. The fictional writer's name is Arthur Friedland, so "F" may be a self-referencing title chosen by the fictional writer in a clever way to hint at the biographical nature of his work. But of course, "F" is also the title of the book we're reading, so am I reading a biography of somebody writing about a writer writing a biography? Ah brilliant, I am getting somewhere.

No hang on - Kehlmann starts with a "K" and Daniel starts with a "D". I am getting nowhere.

A playful novel...

I think by now you know what my point may be. I think this novel is about something, but it wears its deeper meaning lightly. The fictional equivalent of the mirror-within-the-mirror trick is, I think, largely a red herring, and if there is a deeper meaning, I don't think it is very important. It almost feels as if Daniel is trying to trick me; he's hinting at a mystery, at an allegory, and he's trying to send me on a wild goose chase while hiding behind a tree snickering.

And that, funnily, would be in keeping with the novel. All three protagonists, the sons of Arthur Friedland, are trying to trick the world into thinking they are somebody who they are not. One is a priest who does not believe, one a wealth manager who runs a Ponzi scheme, and one an artist who creates pictures in the name of somebody else.

The joy of reading this novel is about finding out how the fates of the three are interlinked. They are brothers, so their lives are intertwined to an extent, but it is the subtle portrayal of these links that makes this novel so much fun. Once again, as in most of his other novels, Daniel employs a technique that allows the reader to observe other characters through the eyes of one character in one chapter, and through the eyes of another character in another chapter. Daniel chooses a truly subtle technique to do this, and I can recommend reading this novel slowly to get as much out of it as possible.

Towards the end of the novel, Daniel cannot resist the temptation to drop a heavy hint what the novel might be about, and this is a little bit annoying. He did that also in Ruhm, and I hope he won't see the need to do that in his future work. 14 pages before the end of the 380 pages novel, he has Arthur say "Fatum. Das grosse F". Now, that needs no translation from me, but I need to tell you that I have never seen the word "Fatum" used in German to refer to "Schicksal". So even if this is another trick to throw the reader off-course, it feels a bit laboured to get that one in. I am guessing, therefore, that this story may be about "fate", and the expression certainly came naturally when I used it before in this review.

Still, even now that I know what I am supposed to think, I am still not feeling it. Yes, "fate" is an ingredient, but so is the interplay between reality and perception, between self-deception and self-knowledge, between a choice to be true to yourself or living a lie.

And this, in the end, is what I think makes this novel brilliant. This novel does not take itself too seriously and invites the reader to think about all that stuff if he wants. But it also does not take its audience too seriously, and smiles playfully while watching the reader trying to find meaning where none can be found. Another masterful novel by Daniel, who is rapidly becoming my favourite contemporary German-speaking writer.

Two reading tips

1/ I found only one explicitly fateful event in the novel. But you can miss it easily, and you need to read this as if you are a bit of a nerd, I am afraid. There is a line in the novel about half way through, on page 218 in my (German) edition. It is the scene where Eric has a feeling of foreboding in the elevator. I don't know what happened but it was something terrible. Something that will never be right again. I wipe the tears away and look at my watch, 14 minutes past four. Remember the day, remember the time: 8 August 2008, 14 minutes past four. I recommend to do as you are told - remember that time! It will become relevant again, much later, and when it does, you will experience a few minutes of true fate.

2/ There are lots of cameo appearances in this novel! Characters, places, and situations from his other novels make an appearance. If you read his other works, this is very amusing and one of the reasons that I think this novel wears its metaphorical meaning lightly.

all translations are mine

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does F stand for? Faith, finances, fraud, forgery, family and Fate all play a role in Daniel Kehlmann’s fourth novel available in English translation. F is also for the Friedlands: Arthur the unreliable patriarch; Martin, a portly Catholic priest who doesn’t believe in God; and his twin half-brothers, Eric and Ivan, a mentally ill businessman and a homosexual painter who forges his mentor’s masterworks.

Reading this brilliant, funny spoof on the traditional family saga is like puzzling out a Rubik’s Cube: it is a multi-faceted narrative with many meanings that only become clear the deeper you go. As the novel repeats the events of August 8, 2008 from different perspectives, new faces of the cube come to light. The satirical tone and philosophical content are most like Joshua Ferris’s To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, but the sophisticated treatment of religion, morality and art will also appeal to fans of Michael Arditti, Herman Koch, Julian Barnes and Siri Hustvedt.

(Full review in September/October 2015 issue of Third Way magazine.)

[Jonathan Pool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis

This is a man’s book. That’s in the sense that the family of four Friedlands constitutes twins, Eric and Arthur, their step brother Martin, and predominantly absent father, Arthur. It is a male centric book, and one in which for different reasons, the four male characters all exhibit significant personal weaknesses. I was engrossed in all four characters, and unusually so, since I find that novels in which the narrative perspective switches, rarely sustain an equal level of interest in each of the central characters.. Not so here. Arthur is a solitary man who absolves himself of personal responsibility in order to write books. The reader doesn’t get to know Arthur very well, and his occasional re-appearances are all the more intriguing because he, and his motivations, are so hard to pin down.

The older son, Arthur is a priest. He is an overweight priest. He is a man given over to personal indulgence and slovenly behaviour of the sort that doesn’t normally associate with a man of the cloth. Priests who question their faith are a well described type. A priest who has drifted into the ‘profession’ and who fundamentally doesn’t believe is a rare characterisation in literature, and life. Martin is a Rubik cube prodigy, and his focus on the puzzles of Rubik mean more to him than answering the questions of his congregation. Whenever a tricky theological question arises, his stock answer is that this is knowingly God’s “mystery”.

Arthur and Eric exhibit the intuitive bond common to twins, and each second guesses the other. Both are morally reprehensible, in the fields of business and art. This is a novel written in 2013 when memories of the 2008/9 world financial crash (and Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme) were very fresh in the mind.

Highlights

The opening chapter/story "The Great Lindeman", involving group hypnotism on a public stage, is a great attention grabber. It particularly resonated with me since I've been a part of an audience participating in a group event of this sort, myself. I was unmoved, unlike Arthur, despite his protestations.
This is a funny book throughout. Martin recalling a socially awkward childhood/adolescence, is ‘getting to know’ an equally awkward girl after some shared homework
“The door opened and in came her father, followed by her mother and her sister, followed by a dachshund, followed by my mother”48)

Lowlights

Although the similarities of Eric and Ivan, twins, is a significant part of the family dynamic, I felt that the telling of their respective stories, especially cast adrift in adulthood, were a bit similar in their respective stream of consciousness downward spirals.

Historical & Literary

The section covering Ivan is one focused on the Art world, and the value of paintings. A number of renowned artists (Klee, Van Gogh) and lesser known European painters are referenced, while the focal point is Heinrich Eulenboeck. (William Boyd would appreciate this). Marcel Duchamp’s "R.Mutt” Fountain urinal is cited as the subjective worth of Art is examined.

Questions

• Why did Kehlmann title the book “F” ? A book title is often an important constituent of a novel’s life, summarising of the essence of the novel, and a memorable title counts for something. Not very original, but at least call the book “Fate” (the F meaning…), or “ My Name Is No One” (Arthur Friedland’s book)
• One of the stories is called “ Family”. The great cycle of life; dynasties, fathering children. But what does this chapter mean and how and why does it fit in with the rest of the book? (As Martin would reply- it’s a mystery).

Author background & Reviews

Kehlmann is best known for his fictional interpretation of Alexander Von Humboldt in Measuring the World , a historical novel, and a huge seller in Germany and Europe. The soon to be launched (in English) Tyll is similarly structured historical fiction/fantasy. The contrast in Kehlmann’s short stories could not be more marked, and I was sceptical that Kehlmann could handle both writing styles. Fame (2010) is comparable to F, and constitutes a series of linked short stories. I think F is by far the more intriguing and well executed book of the two.

Recommend

Yes, this is my favourite Kehlmann book. There are six stand-alone stories, but they are linked, and in some cases the conclusion of one story gives a wholly different outlook on a preceding story. It’s very cleverly done.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most remarkable part of this 2013 novel is its first section, "The Great Lindemann," which is without question the progenitor of Kehlmann's extraordinary novel Tyll from 2017. The rest of the novel is pretty good but Kehlmann must have felt the pull of these first pages because Lindemann is Tyll--the same character in different circumstances; the same bullying mocking braggadocio of a confident and misanthropic and wise entertainer onstage, the same helplessness of everyone in the audience. What followed was a pretty-good novel but nothing like the glorious riveting story of these first pages which are almost not a part of the rest of the story at all.

[Larry H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received an advance readers copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

In 1984, Arthur Friedland takes his young sons, Martin, Eric, and Ivan to see a famous hypnotist, The Great Lindemann. Arthur doesn't believe in hypnosis and declares himself immune, but he goes to the show to humor his boys. Yet Lindemann calls Arthur up onstage and influences him to reveal his darkest secrets—many of which revolved around Arthur's desire to become a published author and free himself of the yoke of family—and then encourages Arthur to turn his ambitions into reality.

Within a few days, Arthur has emptied out his and his wife's joint bank account and disappears, only to re-emerge as an infamous author years later, with his most famous book leading people worldwide to question their own existence, and some even commit suicide after reading it.

Each of the boys are influenced in some way by their encounter with The Great Lindemann and their father's subsequent escape. Martin becomes a priest, although he struggles with his own devotion, as well as his addiction to food. Eric, a banker, is slowly losing his grip on reality as his career is tanking, while Ivan, once a talented artist, instead uses his talents to become a forger. Each of the boys has a cataclysmic encounter on the same day, which throws each of them further into chaos.

I am a voracious reader, but I tend to like books that are relatively straightforward. F is not one of those books. It tries too hard to be clever and mysterious, and it never gave you enough background to truly understand the characters or the issues they were dealing with. One of the greatest conceits of the book is that each of the sons has a mysterious encounter (on 8/8/08) with several people all named Ron—I just didn't understand the point.

This book was translated from German, so it's entirely possible that the narrative resonates more in its native language. But because Daniel Kehlmann was so deliberately obtuse and mystical in the way he unfolded the plot and developed his characters, I was never able to get immersed in the book, and truly don't understand the point of it at all.

[Wal.li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hypnose

Lange weiß Martin wenig von seinem Vater und seinen Halbbrüdern. Doch eines Tages treten Arthur Friedland und die Zwillinge Eric und Iwan in sein Leben. Eines Tages machen die vier einen Ausflug zu einer Hypnose-Show. Während der Vorstellung flüstert der Hypnotiseur Arthur etwas zu, was diesen veranlasst, die Kinder bei Martins Mutter abzuliefern und dann für lange Zeit zu verschwinden. Das Ereignis prägt das Leben der Jungen. Martin, der sich selbst als Versager besonders bei den Frauen empfindet, wird Pfarrer. Eric, der während einer Therapie lernt, den Menschen zu sagen, was sie hören wollen, wird Devisenhändler. Iwan, der immer Maler werden wollte, wird Fälscher.

Was bestimmt den Lauf der Dinge? Kann es eine kleine Begegnung mit einem Gaukler sein? Kann ein Fremder etwas verändern? Oder bringt er schließlich nur das zutage, was schon da ist? Ist eine Überzeugung, ein Glaube, möglicherweise stärker als tatsächliche Fähigkeiten? Redet man sich selbst ein, man sei unfähig? Kann man so eine Begabung verlieren? Bringen Zufälle den tragischen Helden in einem hervor oder einer den schutzbedürftigen Feigling? Wann kann Gaukelei als solche erkannt werden? Oder bleibt immer ein Zweifel zurück?

Die drei Brüder gehen ebenso wie ihr Vater ihren Weg, egoistisch und rücksichtslos suchen sie ihren Vorteil. Wenig scheinen sie sich daran zu stören, welche Verletzungen sie hinterlassen. Sie wirken wie Schausteller ähnlich dem Hypnotiseur, der ihnen den Vater nahm. Gefühle anderer, fremdes Geld, Schöpfungskraft, das gilt ihnen wenig.

Dieser Roman von Daniel Kehlmann, der es aufgrund kontroverser Besprechungen erstmal nicht auf die Leseliste geschafft hat, besticht überraschend durch die sich überlappenden Perspektiven, aus denen sich angedeutete Erklärungen ergeben. Erläuterungen, die den Leser schließlich mehr wissen lassen als die Akteure, ihm aber doch genug Rätsel aufgeben, um das Buch nachwirken zu lassen. Eine Komposition, die vielleicht manche abschreckt, die verzweifeln können, ob der Nichtigkeit des Lebens der Brüder, die aber auch aus nahezu den selben Gründen, zu einem großen Vergnügen werden kann. Gelungen.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

F is for

Fantastic

Flawed

Fractured

Fabricated

Fatherless

Famous

Fascinating

Family

Fatal

Faithless

False

FFFFFFFFFFFFFreaking great book. It faltered on the ending a little but all is forgiven.

[Prusseliese · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,4 ☆

[Bara]

"Fatum", rekao je Arthur. " Veliko F. Ali slucaj je mocan i odjednom dobijes sudbinu koja ti nikad nije bila predodredjena. Nekakvu slucajnu sudbinu. Ali stvari se brzo dogode.

[anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-read

[Inga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Durchaus komplex sind die die vielen Erzählebenen des Romans, die sich verwirrend überschneiden, ergänzen und teils widersprechen. Die Protagonisten entstammen einer Familie, hängen aneinander und wirken dennoch seltsam wenig verbunden. Gleichzeitig stehen sie symbolhaft für verschiedene Bereiche einer kaputten Gesellschaft, die unaufhaltsam ins Verderben trudelt. In dem man den Charakteren dabei zusieht, wird einem zunehmend unwohler. Gleichzeitig versucht Kehlmann auch sprachlich-erzählerische Verwirrspiele, Wiederholungen, Verzerrungen...

Im ersten Drittel empfand ich noch Spannung und Neugier auf die nächsten Wendungen, doch blieben größere Erkenntnisse oder Auflösungen aus. Tatsächlich wirken die Konstruktionen am Ende hohl und nichtssagend, sie werden nicht mit Bedeutung gefüllt, was wiederum vielleicht der Spiegel einer leeren, bedeutungslosen Gesellschaft ist. Hoffnung gibt es keine, denn selbst die jüngste des Familienclans tritt in die verlogenen Fußstapfen von Vater und Großvater, spielt ihr Leben, anstatt wahrhaftig nach Bedeutung zu suchen oder Dinge zu verändern.

So bleibt man nach der Lektüre von F mit einem Unwohlsein zurück, ob gewollt oder nicht. Sprachlich hat Kehlmann einen wohlgeschliffenen Roman abgeliefert, er enttarnt Verlogenheiten und Betrug auf vielen Ebenen der Gesellschaft, mehr aber - leider - auch nicht.

[GridGirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Stories within stories within stories. You never know where one ends and another begins! In truth, they all flow into one another. It's only in books that they're clearly divided.”


I love how the stories of the brothers connected to each other and the little twists and turns that were scattered across this book. However, I was not able to enjoy this as much as I hoped. I feel like this book would have served its purpose best if it were written for entertainment only. Yet, it always seemed like it was supposed to be more than that. It was supposed to have a deep meaning that I didn’t really understand. The feeling that I was just not smart enough to really get this book is what destroyed the reading experience I’ve had.

2.5/5

UPDATE (Aug. 26th, 2019): I'm adjusting my rating, because I obviously had a bad day when I wrote this review. I just talked to my boyfriend and explained the story to him and realized how extraordinarily good it actually was!

New rating: 4/5

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading this really well-written tragicomedy about three brothers abandoned by their father, who in a twist of fate, becomes a famous writer. Arthur's three sons, Martin becomes a priest; and twins Ivan and Eric go into the arts and business fields.

The novel is about how three men cope with the loss of a father figure; complete with failed relationships and nervous breakdowns.

I actually found out about this novel through a reading Mr. Kehlmann presented with author Zadie Smith back at the Brooklyn Book Fair, September 2014.

The only thing I did not like about the novel was the attempt at making Arthur a more sympathetic and flawed human being; but he remains unlikeable.

[Adam Buongiovanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was exceptional. Exceptional when it comes to grammar, style, word choice, however it was also exceptionally crazy. I found it hard to root for any of the characters, as they all seemed insane...and not good insane, weird insane. I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed how all over the place it was. I enjoyed how at times, Kehlmann went from one end of the spectrum to the complete opposite. I think the unknowing of what was going to happen next definitely helped me get through this book, and definitely made me realize that there are some books out there, well, that are just going to leave you thinking "What the hell did I just read?"!

[Ernst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gut konstruiert, sehr unterhaltsam, Kehlmann kann wirklich gut schreiben und seine Neuerscheinungen sind meist auf meiner Wunschliste. Enttäuscht war ich eigentlich auch noch nie.
Trotzdem fehlt mir immer das gewisse Etwas, ich kann nicht sagen, was genau es ist, vielleicht ist es die fast zu perfekte Sprache und Konstruktion, aber ich bleibe weiter dran und vielleicht entdecke ich auch irgendwann die Magie in seinen Texten.

[Sternenstaubsucherin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mein drittes Buch von Daniel Kehlmann und ich bin mir sicher, dass es nicht das letzte war. Herr Kehlmann hat sich mit 'F' in mein Leserherz geschrieben.

Die Geschichte kommt eigentlich ganz unspektakulär daher, hat mich aber schon im ersten Kapitel mit voller Wucht gepackt.
Es beginnt damit, dass alle zu einem Hypnotiseur gehen. Vorher passiert noch ein Beinah-Unfall und ab da war mein Kopf nicht mehr aus der Geschichte raus zukriegen, war ich gefangen zwischen den Zeilen.

"Martin war es, als hätte sein Dasein sich gespalten. Er saß hier, aber zugleich lag er auf dem Asphalt, reglos und verdreht. Ihm schien sein Schicksal noch nicht ganz entschieden, beides war noch möglich, und für einen Moment hatte auch er einen Zwilling-einen, der dort draußen nach und nach verblasste."

Und so erging es mir ab da mit dem Lesen, als wäre ich als Leserin gespalten. Ich kann es gar nicht genau bezeichnen.
Bis zum Ende des Buches war ich in dieser Stimmung gefangen. Ist das alles wahr oder befinden wir uns in einem "anderen" Leben?
Befinden wir uns in einer Hypnose oder ist das hier echt? Liegen die drei Protagonisten dort auf der Bühne beim großen Lindemann und durchleben ihr Leben?
Das war für mich die eigentliche Täuschung an diesem Buch. Und ein echt genialer Kniff von Kehlmann. Er hat mich zweifeln lassen an der Geschichte, hat mich blind werden lassen und doch erschien ich mir wissend, nur um im nächsten Moment zu denken: gleich wachen wir auf, alles nur Trance.
Und auch jetzt noch, Tage nach dem Lesen kehren meine Gedanken immer wieder zu dem Buch zurück.
Was wäre, wenn Martin dort auf dem Aspalt gestorben wäre? Wie weit hätte das die Leben der anderen beeinflusst. Wären sie ehrlicher im Leben gewesen, hätten sie ihr Leben anders gelebt, von besser mag ich nicht sprechen, denn was besser ist, kann niemand sagen.
Und was, wenn alles gar nicht wahr ist, wir immer noch dort liegen und unser Leben nur träumen....?
...wer kann das eigentlich genau sagen?.....
Es klingt in meinem Kopf ziemlich verrückt, solche Gedanken zu haben, aber genau das macht das Buch mit mir und diese Geschichte so unfassbar gut für mich!
Chapeau, Herr Kehlmann, auf ein Neues!

[Natascha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abgebrochen nach 193 Seiten.

Ein Buch von einem Autoren abzubrechen desen Geschichten man bisher immer mochte ist keine leichte Entscheidung. Dieser Autor hat einem bereits gute Zeiten geschenkt und vielleicht kommt ja dieses Mal sogar noch ein Wendepunkt der die Genialität der bisherigen Werke überschreitet. Vielleicht aber auch nicht und deswegen habe ich mich entschieden mich nicht weiter durch F zu quälen.

Dabei fängt F mit einer starken Szene an die mich als Leser sofort fesseln konnte und eine spannende Geschichte versprach. Danach verrennt sich Daniel Kehlmann allerdings sehr schnell in einem Gewirr aus kleinen Geschichtsschnipseln. Vielleicht ergibt sich am Ende ein stimmiges Bild, doch bis zur Hälfte fühlt sich dieses zusammenhangslose Überhäufen mit unsympathischen Charaktere und ihrem mehr als klischeehaften Verhalten viel zu gewollt an um der Geschichte zuträglich zu sein.

Normalerweise liebe ich Geschichten die nicht linear erzählt werden und erst am Ende ein erklärendes Gesamtbild ergeben. Leider schafft es Daniel Kehlmann aber nicht mein Interesse auch nur ansatzweise aufrecht zu erhalten um bis dahin zu kommen.

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally written in German, this is a tale of a man that has his mind in the clouds that managed have three sons. After a frightening experience with his sons when on stage with a hypnotist (yep, stay with me), the father leaves his families. The book moves forward to the sons as adults, and the father now a highly successful writer, whose latest book has inspired suicides! A remarkable, eerie and innovative read, so innovative, that I am not sure that 'I got it'. I maybe need to read again one day? I know I enjoyed it! 7 out of 12.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so freaggin good!! Please go pick it up! The story revolves around a father and his three sons, with different sections being from different perspectives. It was wild.

[Xian Xian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an Advanced Readers Copy from Netgalley, Thank you!

Other than Franz Kafka, I don't really know much about German literature. I don't hear about too many modern or contemporary German writers, but this guy is definitely one I will be reading more of. It has everything I love all in one tome. It's not lengthy, but I read it on Kindle, so it felt pretty long, that's just how reading on the kindle is like for me. Whoever said reading on Kindle is faster was lying.

The novel, F, already has the themes spread out for you, family, fate, fraud, and fortune. This story centers around three brothers and their father that seems to lurk somewhere in the background watching after them, after he left without a reason of why. The twins, Ivan and Eric, look exactly the same, but are completely divergent in fate, personality, and fortune. The oldest brother is the one who stands on top of the brothers, and yet he seems to be utterly clueless, to the end, of who he is and what he truly wants.

F basically describes the trio's lives after the The Great Lindemann show, where they had been hypnotized and they apparently changed their lives forever with the hypnosis and the words of wanting to achieve what they truly desire. The father of the trio achieved his dreams, becoming an elusive father and leaves his family behind. His desired fortune threw away what was most important to him, or maybe he never cared to begin with? The oldest son, Martin becomes a priest, despite his lack of faith, he seems to be a sort of agnostic. His debilitating shyness causes him to stay home with his mother, never marry, and withdraws within his own self, fiddling around with a Rubix cube. He is the one who is destined to stay on the bottom, but will shine through and on top of the brothers with his kindness towards his brothers, he seems to be the least dysfunctional. One of the twins, Eric becomes a financier, he tumbles into a hole of ruins, as his guilt for some his money embezzlements, to be honest I don't really remember what he did, but it was terrible, all of this throws him into a sort of nervous breakdown at the end. His reality collapses and that's where the magical realism tumbles in, as everything in his life loses logic and the perfection that he wanted to achieve is torn down as he tears down his own self, with his selfishness and need for perfection, yet his flaws, such as cheating on his wife, contradicts his own desire for this perfection. If you want a fantastical life with no flaws, why commit such a deed? Does that make sense? Then there's Ivan, who had to learn the hard way, he is a painter, but is apparently not unique and can only imitate art. He is also gay, giving strength to his inferiority complex. Just like Martin, his kindness and the need to be accepted, his sensitivity, is the reason for his terrible fate. Martin and Ivan had failed to get what the wanted, their fates were determined by their indecisiveness or their general lack of misunderstanding of their own selves and everyone surrounding them. The Magical realism kicks in whenever the characters seems to go through something distressing, whenever their dreams seems to have become a lie.

The father of the trio managed to become a famous author, and he wrote these mysterious, meta-fiction, mind boggling novels that people seem to become obsessed with. People seem to get thrown into a sort existential crisis, because if you do think about it, our existence is kind of pointless. We don't exist apparently, we just act like we do. No wait, see does that make sense? Because if we don't exist, then what made us want to recognize our existence? Does this make sense? Am I making a fool of myself? Possibly but maybe that was the point.

F is one of those novels that I love because they are so thought provoking and it makes you question. The question for this book is maybe this: Is fate inevitable? Is fate something we can change,even if we do everything to destroy it? Do we know it all along and we just go ahead? Is fortune a blessing or a curse? Do the people who earn these things deserve it? I don't think one of the twins deserved it. The nice ones always go down the worse.

The writing style in this novel was wonderful, readable, beautiful, yet there is this macabre or avant-garde thing going on, it's not your typical prose. There were so many sentences that I highlighted but I don't think I can share it on here, because this is an ARC. I'm too young to get sued for something I did on the internet. I loved the writing in this book, it pokes fun at people, but at the same time, it seems as if it apologizes and continues on the story, after laughing at the characters and maybe the reader for a bit.

I really loved this book and I'm looking forward to reading more of his works. This is probably all I can say, there's probably more, but I think that's it. It's also the first book I read by him, I didn't even know he existed until I stumbled upon him on Netgalley. It has everything I love, in just one little book.

I really hope this sums up all my feelings and I hope the grammar is good, I always miss a typo.

Rating: 5/5

[Matthias · Rating 5 out of 5]

F for Fake? :)

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Kehlmann ha sido mi gran descubrimiento de 2022. Después de Tyll, leo ahora F y encuentro una novela rara, pero que se lee con gusto, porque el estilo del autor atrapa desde las primeras líneas y construye un relato y unos personajes que todo el tiempo atraen la atención.
La historia empieza con un padre que abandona a sus tres hijos, después de vaciar la cuenta bancaria que comparte con su esposa, para convertirse en escritor, siguiendo el consejo -o la hipnosis- de un hipnotizador de show de alcanzar sus metas cueste lo que cueste.
Los capítulos siguientes son relatados en primera persona por cada uno de los hijos. Martin, el mayor, un sacerdote sin fe y obeso; Eric, un mellizo, asesor financiero a un paso de ser descubierto en la enorme estafa que viene cometiendo por años; e Iwan, el otro mellizo, pintor, que construye un elaborado esquema para darle valor comercial a la obra de un artista mediocre. Como en la famosa trilogía de colores de Kieślowski, en la trilogía de los hermanos aparece un elemento en común que va cobrando sentido a medida que avanza relato, pero que solo es evidente para quien lee, pues a pesar de cargar toda la fuerza de los hechos, para los personajes de la narración es casi inexistente.
A su vez, los libros de Arthur, el padre, que logra convertirse en una autor reconocido, narran de manera sutil los mismos hechos que ocurren en la novela, con ligeros giros, así que es una obra que se autorreferencia.
Las voces de los tres hermanos Friedland dan cuenta, además, de unas reflexiones interesantes alrededor de la fe cristiana, la economía y el arte, salpicadas en no pocas ocasiones de pequeñas dosis de humor.
Kehlmann es uno de esos autores que invita, con cada obra suya que se lee, a querer leer otra más.