Me and Kaminski

By: Daniel Kehlmann

Narrated by: Nicholas Coster

From internationally best-selling author Daniel Kehlmann comes this provocative and wickedly funny novel about two unpredictable men—one an artist and the other a journalist—who embark on an unexpected adventure with uproarious results.

Sebastian Zollner's failure as a journalist is matched only by his personal failures. Searching for redemption in the eyes of his peers, he heads off into the mountains to interview the eccentric, legendary painter Manuel Kaminski with the hope of writing his biography. Going blind and living in seclusion with his daughter, Kaminski could be working on his next masterpiece or easing into his final days. His artistic reputation hinges on any number of factors, but most prominently on a definitive biography.

With edgy wit and intelligence, Kehlmann dives into the question of what is "truth" in our celebrity-crazed times and embraces the energy and humanity that lie beneath the pretensions of the art and journalistic worlds.

©2009 Daniel Kehlmann (P)2009 Phoenix Books, Inc.

A Genial Comedy

Anyone who likes the narratives of Iris Murdoch will probably find much to enjoy here. At the center of the narrative is a reclusive, elderly mystery figure who after having once reached a pinnacle of fame and cultural notoriety has disappeared into anonomous obscurity. His isolation is invaded by an ambitious and amusingly arrogant young journalist hoping to make a career coup by filling out the untold biography. Kehlmann beautifully handles a long and wonderful senex-puer joke, a sort of picaresque novel in reverse, in which astonishing vitality erupts from what seemed an enfeebled old age. It is well read and provided this listener with many smiles.