In his fourth autobiographically tinted novel, Meyerhoff tells of his alter ego’s struggles with love as he gets entangled in simultaneous relationships with a student, a dancer and a baker. Physically and logistically, he can barely juggle all the events in his love life, but despite all his moral scruples, he hasn’t felt this good in a long time. And as in Meyerhoff’s earlier novels, the reader cannot help laughing out loud at his inability to cope with life while also being deeply touched by his insights into the human condition.
After his childhood on the grounds of an enormous psychiatric institution, a gap year in the American Wild West, and a completely demoralizing time at drama school, we witness the narrator starting out as a solidly unsuccessful young actor in the provinces. When he meets Hanna, an ambitious and uber-intelligent student, at least his love life seems to be going somewhere. She is the first great love of his life. But then a few weeks later, Franka appears – a dancer with an irresistible propensity to party through the night. The complete opposite of Hanna but a temptation he cannot resist. And last not least there’s Ilse, a baker, in whose kitchen he feels happier and safer than anywhere else. The question is: Can all this go well? The answer is: No.
