Fame

Imagine being famous. Being recognised on the street, adored by people who have never even met you, known the world over, wouldn't that be great?But what if, one day, you got stuck in a country where no one spoke your language and you didn't speak theirs. Where no one knew your face and you had no way of contacting your home and family. 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? And when you realised your magnum opus, like everything else you'd ever written, was drivel, a total waste of time and energy for all concerned, how would you react? Would the thought of the seven million people you knew would buy it and devour every word bring you comfort? Or would your shame only increase?In this delightfully entertaining joy of a book, Daniel Kehlmann throws his characters into all these situations with thrilling, funny and surprising results, showing once again that he is one of his generation's finest European writers.