You Should Have Left

A Novel

De: Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin - translator

Narrado por: Robertson Dean

From the internationally best-selling author of Measuring the World and F, an eerie and supernatural tale of a writer's emotional collapse

"It is fitting that I'm beginning a new notebook up here. New surroundings and new ideas, a new beginning. Fresh air."

This passage is from the first entry of a journal kept by the narrator of Daniel Kehlmann's spellbinding new novel. It is the record of the seven days that he, his wife, and his four-year-old daughter spend in a house they have rented in the mountains of Germany—a house that thwarts the expectations of the narrator's recollection and seems to defy the very laws of physics. He is eager to finish a screenplay for a sequel to the movie that launched his career, but something he cannot explain is undermining his convictions and confidence, a process he is recording in this account of the uncanny events that unfold as he tries to understand what, exactly, is happening around him—and within him.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“This mind-bending novella about a writer losing his marbles contains images that startle and linger....The most arresting of the book’s chilling moments might do for baby monitors what ‘Jaws’ did for swimming in the ocean....[Kehlmann] manages a few darkly comic flourishes...provocative...potent...pleasantly unsettling.”
—John Williams, The New York Times

“A quick, fun breathless read. It’s inventive and scary—and a delightful take on the writing life.”
—Huffington Post

“A beautifully crafted exercise in terror from one of Germany’s most celebrated contemporary authors….This novel is, in many ways, a classic haunted-house tale. There are warnings about the house from the people in the village below. There’s a creeping sense of horror. There are frightening phenomena that the narrator cannot explain. And there are specters. Kehlmann uses all these familiar tropes beautifully. But he also creates a sense of existential dread that transcends the typical ghost story….A book to keep you up at night.”
—Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*

“A well-crafted tale about one man unravelling due to forces beyond his control….You Should Have Left—part-horror, part-psychodrama—serves up effective shocks and thrills that keep us rapt and on the edge of our seats. The narrator’s journal slides from excerpts from his screenplay to accounts of his own creeped-out tragedy, and slips from coherence to jumbled trains of thought, and each time we lose purchase yet delight in the confusion and the tension.”
—Malcolm Forbes, The National

“My favorite German novelist.″
—Ian McEwan, The Sunday Times (London)

confused...is there going to be more???

Felt like it had a good start at the beginning, but at the end I felt confused and like there should be more to the story or a second part.

Like a good episode of the original Twilight Zone

An intriguing little confection. It’s going to be made into a movie which will be quite some trick given how little actually happens in the story. Much of it is so internalized but really spooky. It will stay with you long after you’ve read it (or listened) in this case.

Well performed but at times the translation from the original German becomes somewhat apparent.

Creepy

A strange and creepy tale. Non-gory. In somewhat the same genre of psychological horror as Zoje Stage’s Wonderland or the granddaddy of them all, Thd Turn of the Screw.

Great book.

This is the first book I've listened to that was narrated by Robertson Dean. He did a great job. The story was a little hard to get a hold of at the beginning but within 15-20 minutes I got the hang of the writer's style. I look forward to watching the movie with Kevin Bacon in the future.

Listening in an empty dark house wasn't my best idea.

The way the author writes adds to the creepiness of this story, and that last chapter definitely had me avoiding looking down the hallway or out the window. If you enjoy an occasional case of the heebies and/ or jeebies... this'll do it.