Cómo me quedé calvo

Part literary game, part grotesque coming-of-age tale, this “autobiographical novel” is likely to amuse some readers and put off others. To begin with, Van Der Jagt is a pseudonym; the book’s real author is Arnon Grunberg, a prolific young Dutch author whose talent is matched—or possibly exceeded—by his desire to provoke the Dutch literary establishment. Submitted under the false name, the book won the Anton Wachter prize for a debut novel; the honor was revoked when it was discovered that Grunberg, who won the same prize for his bestseller Blue Mondays, was the author. The book’s protagonist is Viennese teenager Marek, a studious type prone to dour remarks. He struggles under the burdens of an overbearing mother, a distant father and a perilously small penis (“three-quarters of a pinky, when viewed charitably and with an open mind”). Despite this, he repeatedly tries his luck with women of chronic low self-esteem. These include a middle-aged accordion player, the less pretty of two tourists from Luxembourg and the neglected mother of a boy in a wheelchair. The translation (done by Sam Garrett, Grunberg’s longtime translator, working under a pseudonym) successfully renders the mix of high-brow and low-brow that comprises Marek’s voice. Whether readers find the book—and the ploy—amusing will depend on their tolerance for Marek/Grunberg’s archly tongue-in-cheek humor.