Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeway

Measuring the World 
Daniel Kehlmann
Translated by Carol Brown Janeway (German)
Originally 2005, I read 2007 Quercus hardcover
259 pages, historical fiction
Found: used at Kolkata Book Fair 2015

Alexander von Humboldt is an obsessive, highly trained all-around scientist who constantly measures, observes, and records all kinds of data. He sets off for South America with the goal of discovering the inland connection between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, observing air pressures at different altitudes, and determining whether the earth is really made up of water. All of this is described in letters to his brother, a high-ranking politician in Germany, which are published in the newspapers.

Carl Friedrich Gauss has an innate capacity for numbers that allows him to make the greatest mathematical discoveries since Newton, in fields ranging from algebra to geodesy to astronomy. Unfortunately, he is also an ass to those around him, especially when he feels they think too slowly to keep up with him.

Alternating between the stories of these two men, Kehlmann tells an ironic, drily humorous story that is as much about science as it is about interpersonal relationships and learned German society in the early 19th century.

The Man of Science as Emotionless Beast 

Like many other authors and television shows (Big Bang Theory, anyone?), this novel depicts these two highly intelligent men as emotionally distant, often rude jerks. Humboldt, for example, often treats his good friend and traveling companion Aime Bonpland as a servant, refusing to take breaks from their adventure even when he is ill. In fact, Humboldt shows more affection for a stray dog that he adopts than he does for any of the people around him. Like Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, this is often played for laughs - but I didn't find it amusing. I felt rather sorry for Humboldt, who seems to have several mental disorders, not to mention his seemingly repressed homosexuality.

The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky

The End of Days 
Jenny Erpenbeck
Translated by Susan Bernofsky (from German)
2012, I read 2014 ebook version
239 pages, meditation, family, politics, life and death

A baby dies and the family falls apart.
But what if it didn't?
A young woman commits suicide after being rejected in love.
But what if she didn't?
A German emigre to the Soviet Union is accused of Trotskyism and sent to a work camp, where she dies.
But what if she wasn't?
A famous East German writer dies falling down the stairs.
But what if she didn't?
The same woman dies comfortably in a nursing home at the ripe age of 90.

Jenny Erpenbeck's novel traces the life of a woman in Europe during the 20th century, and, specifically, how she could have died at different parts in her life and what the fallout would be for those around her. The author gives us five scenarios, connected by musings on how things could have turned out differently, if, for example, she had gone down the stairs five minutes later. Then, the following section assumes that she had not died, and the alternative scenario is the one that actually happened.

It's sort of like a choose-your-own-adventure book for grown-ups.

In less capable hands, this style of writing could have turned into a terrible gimmick. But Erpenbeck manages to pull it off, all while including some beautiful commentary about the connections between people and the role of history in our lives. While not my favorite book from the IFFP longlist, I can understand why it has such widespread appeal.

F by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeway

Source: Goodreads

F
Daniel Kehlmann
Translated by Carol Brown Janeway (from German)
2014, I read ebook version
208 pages, family drama, tragicomedy, adult siblings

When Arthur Friedland chooses to take his three teenage sons - the twins Eric and Ivan, and Martin (from a different mother) - to a hypnotism show as a bonding experience, no one could have guessed that he would be so influenced by the hypnotist's words that he would end up leaving his family that night and disappearing without a trace.

Years later, the three men have a complicated relationship with their now-internationally-acclaimed author father, who sometimes appears, checks on them, and then disappears just as suddenly.

Martin is a priest who struggles with overeating and doesn't believe in God. Eric is a successful businessman who actually has lost all of his clients' money and is cheating on his wife. Ivan is an art critic who has a secret: he creates the paintings that are supposedly the work of a very in-demand artist who died several years ago.

The brothers, each struggling with his own existential crisis, rarely see each other - and yet, on at least one day, their paths overlap.

To me, the most impressive part of this book was how the author managed to convey Eric's frayed mental state. He is so confused and anxious that he is constantly distracted; when he meets Martin after a long time, he isn't even able to hold a coherent conversation with him. Even though Eric's relationship with his twin Ivan is very strong, he chooses not to rely on it: in fact, Eric avoids contacting his twin brother because he knows Ivan understands him too well. If anyone finds out about how his life is going, it will all finally fall apart.

Ivan's story is also rather compelling: he is actually the artist who has created these famous paintings, but there would be no market for them if the world knew that he made them. While he is technically lying, it is sadly in his best interest to do so.

I quite enjoyed this book and how each of the brothers' stories fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It was clever. But I did not think the overall novel was particularly memorable, and I was very surprised to see it on the official International Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist. I would recommend it for when you want to read something clever but not especially brilliant.

See the rest of the IFFP shadow panel's reviews here.

Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on Twitter or like my facebook page!

Tiger Milk by Stefanie de Velasco, translated by Tim Mohr

Source: Goodreads

Tiger Milk
Stefanie de Velasco
Translated by Tim Mohr (from German)
2014, I read ebook edition
245 pages, friendship, immigrant story, poor families, loyalty, drugs sex and alcohol

Nini and Jameelah, two high school students in Berlin, are the best of friends. They spend their time hanging out, sneakily drinking Tiger Milk (a concoction of brandy, milk, and passion fruit juice that they invented) in public, doing drugs, and making pocket money by prostitution. When they witness a murder in their housing complex, will they risk their own safety and tell the police what they saw? Even if that might mean Jameelah will be deported, one of their friends will be put in prison, and their friendship may very well end?

This is not the kind of book that I normally read, but for the sake of IFFP, I finished it. Some parts made me feel physically sick, especially the way the girls respond to the murder: Jameelah takes the victim's jewelry, dropping it into their container of Tiger Milk, which she then drinks from. (I forgot to mention that they also like shoplifting, which involves wandering through stores with open containers and dropping jewelry into the drink. They don't even keep most of the things they steal.) If Tiger Milk doesn't sound bad enough already, why don't you add some fresh blood to it as well?

I appreciate that this author is attempting to show the edgy side of teenage life among poor people in Berlin. The writing shows the point of view of the characters, and encourages the reader to have some sympathy for the people in the story. If you like that sort of thing, you might like this book.

The author also demonstrates some of the struggles that immigrant families face in present-day Germany. Jameelah and her mom are immigrants from Iraq, and have been in Germany long enough that Jameelah doesn't even know Arabic. And yet they find themselves facing possible deportation back to Iraq if the government finds that they have done something wrong. Obviously this is unfair on Jameelah, who has only ever known what it's like to live in Germany.

Overall, this was my second-least favorite book from the IFFP longlist. It was only surpassed by The Last Lover, which was so bizarre I couldn't even understand what the book was trying to say. I'm glad that Tiger Milk did not make either the shadow panel or the official shortlist. (Read the shadow panel's reviews of all the longlist books here.)

If you're interested in edgy Young Adult books about sex, drugs, alcohol, and murder, you might like this book. If not, avoid it.

You can buy Tiger Milk from Amazon or wherever books are sold. 

Did you like this review? Keep in touch! Follow The Globally Curious on Twitter or Facebook. 

The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky, translated by Shaun Whiteside

The Giraffe's Neck
Judith Schalansky
Translated by Shaun Whiteside (from German)
2014 Bloomsbury
211 pages, satire, science

In this darkly humorous book, an old-school (East German) biology teacher analyzes everything in terms of Darwin's theory of evolution. Despite the diminishing number of students and the new educational plans, she remains stolidly in her lifelong habits of inducing fear and respect in class.

How will Frau Lomark survive in a changing world?

This book is described as a Bildungsroman, a novel dealing with character formation, formal education, or a coming-of-age story. (Thanks to Stu at Winstonsdad's blog for pointing out the importance of this term in his review of The Ravens.) However, I have some doubts about the applicability of that term to this story.

The Lives of Others directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
Germany (German), 2006
137 min, thriller, drama, spy, historical
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck




In 1980s East Germany, a hardened member of the secret police (Stasi) is assigned to spy upon a playwright and his actress girlfriend. As he listens in on the intimacies of their lives, he begins to have doubts about the actions of his government. Is he on the verge of become a traitor, or worse - a good man? 

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, translated by Carol Brown Janeway

The Reader
Bernhard Schlink
Translated by Carol Brown Janeway (from German)
Originally 1995, I read 2008 Vintage Movie Tie-in
218 pages, historical fiction, romance, moral conundrum

When Michael Berg is 15 years old, he falls in love with a mysterious woman in her mid-30s named Hanna. While they become lovers and she finds out about his life and school, she is hesitant to say anything about herself or her background. Besides sex, what brings them together is her desire to listen as he reads books to her.

She disappears without warning, leaving him bereft and lonely. The next time he sees her is a shock: she is on trial for war crimes committed while she was an SS officer at Auschwitz. He follows the trial closely, but he cannot reconcile his memories of her with the evidence presented. Is she hiding an even bigger secret than those she is accused of? And what does it mean that he had loved someone who could do such terrible things?

Read on Kindle or buy from Amazon:

The Reader