West Berlin, 1968. As a youth uprising sweeps over Europe in the shadow of the Cold War, two men face each other across an interrogation table. One, Ferdy Kaplan, has shot and killed a student. Kommissar Müller, the other is trying to find out why.
As his interrogation progresses, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, including the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, their shared passion for Kafka, and the radical youth movement they joined. When it transpires that Kaplan’s intended target was not the student but Max Brod, Franz Kafka’s close friend and the executor of his literary estate, the interrogation of a murderer slowly transforms into a dialogue between a passionate admirer of Kafka’s work, who is attempting to protect the author’s final wish to have his manuscripts burned, and a police commissioner who is learning more about literature than he ever thought possible from a prisoner in his custody.
In this gripping, thought-provoking tribute to Kafka, Burhan Sönmez vividly recreates a key period of history in the 1960s, when the Berlin Wall divided Europe. More than a typical mystery, Lovers of Franz K. is an exploration of the value of books, and the issues of anti-Semitism, immigration, and violence that recur in Kafka’s life and writings.
My Review
This was something very different for me. It's a rare move away from crime, although a crime has definitely taken place at the beginning of the book. A young man has been shot dead, another injured and Kommissar Müller is trying to establish the motivation behind Ferdy Kaplan's crime. This novella, just over 100 pages long, plays out in the interview room and during Kaplan's trial, with short excerpts giving details of key moments in Kaplan's life. These passages apart, the book is pretty much all told in dialogue, mostly conversations between Müller and Kaplan, with hardly any contextual details such as facial expressions. If made for a very interesting read.
Ferdy Kaplan is a deep and thoughtful young man. He hasn't had an easy life, born in Germany to a German mother, who was a Nazi supporter and a Turkish father. They were both killed when Ferdy was young, and he was injured. He was sent to live in Istanbul, where he grew up, met Amalya, his first love, and developed an interest in politics. But he also developed a love of literature and shared that joy with Amalya.
The timing and setting of this book are key. There is a youth uprising across Europe and the authorities fear this incidents could be the start of a wave of incidents, or be racially motivated. And whilst Kaplan is honest with them, he is also quite obtuse in his answers, frustrating both the police and the court. But eventually, Kaplan and Kommissar Müller reach a kind of understanding as the young man explains the reason behind his crime, and his passion for Franz Kafka and others. It's a fascinating discourse and one I'm sure I could read again and pick up yet more from.
Can a man's spirit be murdered when he is already dead? I don't know. But Lovers of Franz K presents us with that question, among others. There is an admiration of Kafka's work clear throughout. I have only read one of his works but have others - maybe it's time to visit them. Kaplan displays a real passion for Kafka, a slightly idealised one perhaps, but I can't help but admire that. Every one should be passionate about something, and stand up for what they believe in, what they think is right. I don't know if that's what the author wanted to convey here, but that's the message I'm leaving with, amongst others.
The Author
