Fame
A Novel in Nine Episodes
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Imagine being famous. Wouldn't that be great?
But what if, one day, you got stuck in a country where no one spoke your language. Where no one knew your face and you had no way of contacting home. How would your fame help you then?
What would happen if someone got hold of your mobile phone? If they spoke to your girlfriends, your agent, your director and started making decisions for you. And when no one believed that you were you any more, when you saw a lookalike acting your roles for you, what would you do?
In this delightfully entertaining book, Daniel Kehlmann throws his characters into situations that are thrilling, funny, surprising and tragic, confirming his place as one of his generation's finest writers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this brilliant study of the fragility and interconnectedness of life, Kehlmann (Measuring the World) probes issues of identity in nine overlapping narratives, with each pivoting on a moment where a commonplace event becomes a crack and then a flood gate for existential horror. It begins as computer technician Ebling buys a cellphone, only to discover the number he is assigned belongs to movie star Ralf Tanner; at first resistant, Ebling is soon making decisions that alter Ralf's life. Later, after his phone has abruptly stopped ringing, Ralf finds his life taken over by an impersonator. Meanwhile, the telecommunications executive whose negligence led to the phone number switch cracks from the pressures of having an affair. In a parallel plot, Elisabeth, a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders, keeps her work secret from her famous boyfriend, the writer Leo Richter, out of fear he will steal her experiences for future adventures of his most popular character. Layers of connection, irony, despair, and humor distinguish this masterful work and announce Kehlman as a worthy heir to Bowles and Camus.
