The Capital

A Novel

By: Robert Menasse, Jamie Bulloch - translator

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Set on capturing the elusive inner workings of the European Union, Robert Menasse, one of Austria's most creative thinkers, moved to the EU's headquarters in Brussels for an enthralling, wine-soaked tour of supranational institutions. The resulting novel has become an international sensation, translated from German into more than 20 languages and deemed "the first great EU novel" (Politico).

At the heart of a cast as diverse as the union itself is Fenia Xenapoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently "promoted" to the Department of Culture, who hopes to revamp the European Commission's image by proclaiming Auschwitz as its birthplace with the "Big Jubilee Project." Other tragic heroes, clever schemers, and involuntary accomplices are intricately woven, revealing the absurdities - and real dangers - of a fiercely nationalistic "union."

Mordantly funny and piercingly urgent, The Capital, the winner of Germany's highest fiction prize, is an "elegantly written, beautifully constructed" (Die Zeit) feat of world literature.

©2017 Suhrkamp Verlag; translation copyright 2019 by Jamie Bulloch (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Narrator is just okay

Multiple characters of different genders, from different countries and the narrator does the exact same voice for all of them. It was difficult to keep track of who was talking.

great realistic story of our time

l loved it. excellent timely satire. lots of heart and plenty of brains

the reader used the right tone for a satire
and pronounced all the words in several languages clearly

The ending is an escape hatch

Fascinating, rich story with great characters and insight on European efforts to transcend/ deal with nationalism... but the last chapter should have two or three more. I felt as if Menasse abandoned his story.