Me and Kaminski bookcover

Me and Kaminski

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Description

Sebastian Zollner is searching for his big break. A failure as a journalist, a boyfriend, and a human being, he sets out to write the essential biography of the eccentric painter Manuel Kaminski. All he needs to do is ingratiate himself into Kaminski’s family, wait for him to kick the bucket, and then reap the rewards. There’s only one problem. Kaminski has an agenda of his own, an agenda that will send them on a wild-goose chase to places neither of them ever expected to go.

Told with Nabokovian wit and an edgy intelligence, Me and Kaminski is a shrewd send-up of art and journalistic pretensions from the internationally acclaimed author of Measuring the World.

Product Details

PublisherVintage
Publish DateOctober 06, 2009
Pages208
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780307389893
Dimensions8.0 X 5.2 X 0.5 inches | 0.5 pounds
BISAC Categories: Literary Fiction

About the Author

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.

Reviews

“Display[s] a pyrotechnic ability to skewer not just journalists, but also the entire art world, from artists and critics to gallery owners and patrons. . . . Wonderful.” –The Washington Times

“A piercing look into the art world. . . . Kehlmann’s critique of celebrity, of fame and of the ugliness of self-promotion holds strong.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Zollner [is], in spite of everything, an endearing character who is both comic and sympathetic. . . . Can be absorbed and thoroughly enjoyed in one sitting.” –Rocky Mountain News

“Funny and surprisingly thoughtful. . . . Zollner touches on art and aging, truth and illusion–and the stories we tell ourselves so we can keep going when the going’s hard.” –St. Petersburg Times

“[Zollner] is . . . amusingly distasteful, utterly unreliable, [and] recognizable to readers of Nabokov and his present-day disciples like Amis and Banville. . . . Philosophically and psychologically provocative.” –Bookforum

“Sebastian Zollner and Manuel Kaminski are quite a pair. . . . Laugh-out-loud funny.” –Las Vegas Review-Journal

“A singular book, barbed and compassionate, uproarious and touching.” –The Anniston Star

“Witty, shrewd and smartly translated.” –The Guardian (London)

“A bitingly funny meditation on memory, aging and death.” –The Free Lance-Star

“[Me and Kaminski] will leave you breathless, caught between laughter and tears, pondering the Great Questions such as ‘What is Art?’” –The Putnam County Courier

“Kehlmann has a sure eye for the pretensions of artists and critics. . . . [A] sparkling and consistently amusing comedy, by turns broad and sophisticated.” –The Telegraph (London)

“Fun, fast, and thoroughly enjoyable.” –New Statesman

“[A] novel with brain and a heart–[Kehlmann’s] real masterpiece.” –Granta

“By turns rollicking, witty and touching. . . . A real treat.” –The Howard County Times

“A gleeful massacre of media presumptions and art-world pretensions.” –The Independent (London)

“Zollner’s probing of Kaminski’s life culminates in whimsical and often laugh-out-loud circumstances. . . . A satire of all sorts of people in creative professions.” –Sacramento Book Review

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