F by Daniel Kehlmann (Tr. Carol Brown Janeway)

The novel opens with Arthur, the father of three boys about whom the majority of the book is centred, attending and ill-fated hypnotism show. The show results in Arthur abandoning his family (and stating he prefers one son over the other two) and dedicating his life to writing. Throughout the book it becomes clear Arthur has achieved success as a writer that had eluded him prior to visiting the hypnotist. Indeed Arthur seems to achieve the success that is noticeably absent from the lives of his children. The following three chapters then follow the lives of his children as adults, Martin the eldest from a previous relationship, and twins Eric and Ivan.

Martin is a priest who struggles with his faith, namely, he has none. He is more inclined towards perfecting his Rubik’s Cube technique than listening to the theological woes of his congregation. Evan is a financier who descends deeper and deeper into paranoia as he tries to maintain his air of success and wealth. He furnishes his house with expensive art, not because he particularly likes it, but rather, to signify his status. However, it is all a facade, he lives in constant fear of being found out, his has lost his clients money and is living on borrowed time. Ivan appears to be the most successful of the three brothers. He is a successful art dealer, credited with the discovery of one of the greatest artists of a generation, Heinrich Eulenboeck. Like his brothers, Ivan is living a lie, or rather he is creating one and selling it. Eulenboeck is in fact Ivan, or rather Ivan is the forger that created the paintings that made Eulenboeck’s name; carefully drip-feeding them into the art market to ensure their scarcity, desirability and or course, profitability.

The way Kehlmann portrayed Eric’s ever declining mental state was one of the most successful features of the book. When reading, his sense of paranoia was overwhelming:

Good. Stay calm. Always calm. I look up, there he is, sitting in front of me. Martin. My brother. I Iook at the phone, the message is still there. I look at his face. I look at the phone. Is it my imagination after all? Am I sitting here alone? His plate his empty, mine is full, which argues against that.

The use of short sentences creates a jarring reading experience. Kehlmann’s writing style captures a man who is battling against his mind and to stay in control of his life that seems to be slipping ever further from his grasp. Eric is aware he is living on borrowed time, it is only a matter of time before his clients find out he has lost their money and the police come knocking on the door. Out of fear, he chooses to isolate himself from his twin Ivan who knows him too well; Eric survives from one moment to the next in a constant state of panic and confusion. 

Eric is not the only faker in the family, Martin too has managed to dupe those around him so they are unaware of his struggles with faith:

Young people such as myself were rare. Such enthusiasm. Such seriousness of mind.

I realized I was smiling modestly. A hypocrite, I thought in amazement. I had never intended it or practised, but clearly I was a hypocrite!

To me Martin’s story was the most human. The feeling that we are not quite good enough or not quite qualified for the job we do, a feeling that we have no doubt all felt at some point. Likewise, Martin struggles with religious belief, something that most people have questioned at some point. However, in Kehlmann’s hands Martin’s story is a crisis of confidence and belief in the extreme, he must wear a mask of piety to get through the day undetected, but Martin is human, and far from perfect so struggles to maintain his facade. Rather than ruminate on theology he would rather perfect his Rubik’s Cube technique. Martin, like Eric, is a fraud. Both brothers present a public face which is very different from reality. 

The book encompasses a variety of topics, fate, family, failure, fame and faking it. It is a puzzle of a book that asks big questions, raging from the meaning of life to how do you cope with knowing you are average? To be honest, I’m not really sure what I though of it.  It was an enjoyable read, and clever in places and I enjoyed reading about the brothers and how each of them where struggling in similar ways but in different circumstances. This isn’t a book that made a lasting impression on me in the way The End of Days or In The Beginning Was the Sea did. I think this is a book you have to read for yourself and make your own mind up about. However, what is good to see is the translators name on the front cover. 

What did you think of this book? Did you think it deserved its place on the IFFP shortlist? Have you read any of Daniel Kehlmann’s other books?