Me and Kaminski

International bestseller Daniel Kehlmann offers an unflinching look at two brilliant and unpredictable menone an artist and the other a journalist. This provocative and wildly funny book celebrates the passion and desperation of Sebastian Zollner in his pursuit of Manuel Kaminskian elusive, but legendary painter. Together, they will embark on an unexpected adventure with uproarious results.

Publishers Weekly

German literary wunderkind Kehlmann follows up Measuring the World(2006) with this curious and lesser novel. Self-conscious and yet completely un-self-aware, journalist Sebastian Zollner attempts to outdo his art critic rival by writing the biography of reclusive painter Manuel Kaminski. Sebastian is amusingly sad, if one-note: he lives in denial that his live-in girlfriend broke up with him months ago; after an offhand comment by a transit worker, he becomes obsessed with his receding hairline; and he detests in others everything he so blithely ignores about himself. He weasels himself into Kaminski's household, snoops through the artist's private files, discovers a series of unfinished paintings and attempts to up the drama by reuniting Kaminski with his ex-wife, long thought dead. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Kaminski is manipulating pathetic Sebastian, and Sebastian's plans are thwarted in favor of the master's own. There are entertaining and lightly satirical moments, but for the most part the story feels rushed, with everyone except Sebastian getting short shrift. (Nov.)

Daniel Kehlmann was born in Munich and now lives in Vienna. He has received major awards for his work, most recently the 2005 Candide Award. He was the writer-in-residence at New York University's Deutsches Haus in 2006.