First Person
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3.7 • 27 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A young and penniless writer, Kif Kehlmann, is rung in the middle of the night by the notorious con man and corporate criminal, Siegfried Heidl. About to go to trial for defrauding the banks of $700 million, Heidl proposes a deal: $10,000 for Kehlmann to ghost write his memoir in six weeks.
But as the writing gets under way, Kehlmann begins to fear that he is being corrupted by Heidl. As the deadline draws closer, he becomes ever more unsure if he is ghost writing a memoir, or if Heidl is rewriting him—his life, his future. Everything that was certain grows uncertain as he begins to wonder: who is Siegfried Heidl—and who is Kif Kehlmann?
By turns compelling, comic, and chilling, First Person is a haunting journey into the heart of our age.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Richard Flanagan’s 2014 Booker Prize winner, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, dealt with the past; with First Person he considers a possible future built on alternative facts, fake identities and charismatic charlatans. The protagonist is struggling novelist Kif Kehlmann, who agrees to ghostwrite the memoir of a notorious con man and gradually becomes overwhelmed by his subject’s slippery, evasive and intimidating personality. First Person raises questions about the relativity of truth—Flanagan’s elegant prose skillfully negotiates the fine line between reality and artifice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This harrowing if unsubtle story of insidious corruption is a combination of satire, tragicomedy, melodrama, and polemic from Flanagan, winner of the Man Booker for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Narrator Kif Kehlmann is a desperate man. Determined to finish his first novel, nearly destitute, and responsible for a toddler daughter and a wife pregnant with twins, he agrees to take a job that seems too good to be true. If he can ghostwrite the autobiography of a notorious Australian con man convicted of embezzling $700 million, he'll earn $10,000; if he fails to complete the contract in six weeks, however, he'll get nothing. The noxious criminal, Siegfried Heidl, is a brutal, repulsive embodiment of evil. He refuses to provide the details Kif needs, but asks intrusive questions about Kif's family. The menacing tone established early on loses momentum as Kif struggles and fails to get facts from Heidl, while realizing he's losing his own moral probity in a Faustian bargain. Flanagan is sharply satiric about Australia and its publishing industry, political chicanery, and corporate malfeasance; the heavy Australian focus, however, may be a stumbling block to American readers not already familiar with the terrain. 50,000-copy announced first printing.
Customer Reviews
Important ideas for all Australians to contemplate
Richard has the courage, foresight and intellectual discipline to explore critical issues and questions impacting the prosperity and overall future of Australia and all Australians. I hope even just one of our political leaders reads this book and honors the intention behind Richard’s ideas.