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Me and Kaminski: A Novel
From the internationally best-selling author Daniel Kehlmann, a provocative and wickedly funny novel about two unpredictable men–one an artist and the other a journalist, who together embark on an unexpected adventure with uproarious results.
Sebastian Zollner’s failure as a journalist is matched only by his personal failures: his girlfriend is moving in a new lover before...more
Sebastian Zollner’s failure as a journalist is matched only by his personal failures: his girlfriend is moving in a new lover before...more
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published
November 18th 2008
by Pantheon
(first published February 2003)
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Sebastian Zöllner tiene un plan: convertirse en el biógrafo del gran pintor Manuel Kaminski, y esperar su pronta muerte para saltar a la fama con su biografía. Pero las cosas nunca salen como uno espera, ¿verdad? La novela empieza con Sebastian acudiendo a una entrevista con Kaminski, que vive en una casita en los Alpes, en plena montaña. Sebastian es un personaje despreciable, mezquino, egoista, narcisista y egocéntrico a más no poder (el título, 'Yo y Kaminski', lo dice todo). Sin embargo, con...more
Iris Asllani
added it
James Wood refers to the first-person story-telling as "the unreliable narration" (the unreliable first-person narrator, who knows less about himself than the reader eventually does). Daniel Kehlmann has brilliantly turned the concept into the very framework of Me and Kaminski, except that in the end the protagonist finally catches up (with the reader) and confronts his unkindness, as well as the depth of his self-deception and uselessness - mundus vult decipi finally facing the appall...more
Malo boljša knjiga od Kehlmannove Slave, a še daleč od tega, da bi me nezmerno navdušila. Zanimiva zgodba je večplastna, ponuja bogate interpretacije in množico razmislekov. Časnikarsko "plitev" slog pisanja je v tem primeru razumljiv, opravičljiv, celo logičen, a po dveh njegovih knjigah v tem istem slogu se sprašujem, ali Kehlmann res pisanje spretno prilagaja fabuli. Sumim namreč, da morda svoje zgodbe izbira "po časnikarsko", da vsebina sledi piščevim zmožnostim. Da torej...more
Ein ehemaliger Kunststudent und derzeitiger Literaturkritiker heftet sich ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste an die Fersen eines berühmten sehr alten Malers, um seine Biografie zu schreiben. Sehr anschaulich beschreibt Kehlmann das Innenleben eines Paradeegoisten, der sich für das Zentrum der Welt (auch aller anderen Personen) hält und der durch Ignoranz, Verdrängung, Agressivität und Beharrlichkeit seine Umwelt zugunsten seiner Ziele manipuliert.
Plötzlich bekommt der Roman jedoch eíne uner...more
Plötzlich bekommt der Roman jedoch eíne uner...more
i read the english version that is apparently ungoodreadable and it was called "Kaminski and Me" fyi. gotta say i was not a fan overall, kaminski is an interesting old man who used to paint but went blind but you mostly see him through lens of crybaby jerk reporter who wants to be cool.... but he's not outright douchey enough to be interesting or funny, just mildly self serving and vanilla enough to actively disklike. i basically only got this book because i wnated to read kehlmann's F...more
So la la. Der Anfang war für mich schwer zu überstehen, weil man sich andauernd so sehr fremdschämen musste. Im Mittelteil war es dann ziemlich unterhaltsam, aber das Ende war dann wieder unbefriedigend. Mein Gesamturteil fällt dadurch eher bescheiden aus. Man muss andererseits eingestehen, dass Kehlmann zu erzählen versteht, aber nur weil das den meisten deutschen Autoren so schwer fällt, ist das für mich für sich genommen noch kein Grund, in Begeisterung auszubrechen. Das ist aber der Grund, w...more
a struggling journalist is in the midst of writitng a biography of a mediocre artist. he arrives at the artist house to the dismay of the artists daughter.. he tells this artist that his friend lied to him when he told him his one true love was dead.. she was not dead and he,the journalist, knew where she was..the artrist insisted on a journey to see his love...a short book, one that i would not recommend.
fabulous. no idea if any of it is actually true to kaminsky, but the story is compelling and richly written and follows to a tee the advice of every writing teacher to "show, not tell." it is surprising to have a character who is so fully and accurately depicted as an unpleasant person, then inspire not only empathy but make you want to root for him as well.
Obwohl die Charaktere selten sympatisch sind, kann ich mich nicht entziehen und muß Seite an Seite mit ihnen durch die Geschichte ziehen. Die Abgründe spüren, die Katastrophen nahen sehen, der Versuchung nicht wiederstehen können. So muß ich also meine eigene unsympatische Seite betrachten und trotzdem-
ich liebe alle Kehlmann-Bücher!!!
ich liebe alle Kehlmann-Bücher!!!
Sebastian Zollner is a second rate journalist that has decided he needs to do something that will give him respect in the world. He has heard about an artist Manuel Kaminski, that is very elderly and going blind. Sebastian reasons that someone needs to write about him before he dies. Sebastian's life is falling apart on a personal level with his girl friend telling him she has another lover. He thinks this is the perfect opportunity to go to the home of the artist and tell him he is writing hi...more
Short, funny novel, satire/send-up of art criticism and the art world. Translated from German with a clean, simple style. The narrator definitely has some major personality issues and a complete inability to accurately judge himself and his place in the world, but his come-uppance at the hands of the fascinating older artist he is hoping to make his career in profiling is funny and poignant (maybe a mix of poignancy and sarcasm, if that makes any sense at all, that in itself gives the reader muc...more
Definitely not a book I would have read on my own - but I was bored and it was just lying around my dad's place so I read it. It wasn't bad, a nice little storyline, nothing overly deep, but not boring either. Humorous in parts - not laugh-out-loud - but definitely funny in a wry sort of way.
Pripoved (intervju) zapisana v prvi osebi ednine, ki nam zaradi bizarnega miselnega toka motenega glavnega junaka preprečuje poistovetenje z njim. Protagonist Noel se mi niti ne smili, niti ga ne obsojam. Pravzaprav se me je celotno delo emocijsko zelo rahlo dotaknilo in mi hkrati povečalo tolerantnost do morilcev. Zapreti v „čuzo“ jih je vsekakor treba, ampak bolj kot paciente in manj kot nekake satane.
Akeiisa
added it
I don't know if something got lost in translation- this was not the amusing read the jacket led me to believe. The main character is not likable and his adventures are mundane.
He was such an asshole in this book! Amazing writing, and after 3 read books by Kehlmann, I'm allowed to add him as a favourite author! :))
See my reviews at the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Book Nook at www.lvrj.com/blogs/booknook.
Izvrstna lika, dobro napisana, duhovita, nenavadna prebrano na dušek.
irritating narrator
not funny to me
ending is a pleasant surprise
not funny to me
ending is a pleasant surprise
Funny, witty, charming, unexpected, and a very quick read. 3 1/2 stars.
In French. Translation by Nicole Casanova.
Thema: de jonge, arrogante kunsthistoricus, Sebastian Zöllner, hoopt te 'scoren' met een biografie over de schilder Kaminski
I choose Me and Kaminski randomly and was mostly intrigued because it was by a German author. It was subtly entertaining and reads quickly, but nothing special.
Started without much promise, but gained momentum throughout. Kehlmann is capable of cynicism without cruelty. This is a book only marginally about the art world. Really, it's about the way we choose to construct conceptions of ourself, an act that is almost always destructive.
I wasn't as fond of this as I am of Measuring the World, but Kehlmann crafts a nuanced portrait of self-representation and biography.
Very funny.
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Daniel Kehlmann's Measuring the World was translated into more than forty languages. Awards his work has received include the Candide Prize, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Heimito von Doderer Literature Award, the Kleist Prize, the WELT Literature Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize. Kehlmann divides his time between Vienna and Berlin."
More about Daniel Kehlmann...
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