F

This offbeat and entertaining novel centers on a family in Germany. Arthur, seemingly an eccentric deadbeat, is father to three sons: Martin by one woman; twins Ivan and Eric by another. Arthur takes the boys to see a performing hypnotist, and even though he is totally skeptical, Arthur ends up undergoing hypnosis on stage. After bringing the boys home, he abruptly vanishes from their lives. After his disappearance Arthur resurfaces as a successful and famous author. The novel then devotes long sections to each boy's later lives. Martin has become a priest who does not believe in God. Eric is a formerly successful financial manager who has now become a Bernie Madoff-type schemer, avoiding disgrace and bankruptcy on an hourly basis. Ivan is a talented painter who devotes himself to producing works using a deceased artist's name, and is enjoying great success with this fraud. Woven into these stories are events and conversations seen from multiple viewpoints, leading to a tragedy for one of the brothers and a surprising resurrection for another. Traces of mythology and magic occasionally surface as the sons blunder through their lives under the spell of their vanished father.