Hrabal nos narra la historia de un joven checo que entra a trabajar como camarero en un prestigioso hotel de la Checoslovaquia republicana, y sigue a modo de hilo autobiográfico las andanzas de este jovenzuelo para abrirse camino hasta hacerse millonario.
The president of Czechoslovakia tells of events in his life through a series of interviews
One of the last artistic expressions of life under communism, this novel captures the atmosphere in Prague between 1983 and 1987, where a dance could be broken up by the secret police, a traffic offense could lead to surveillance, and where contraband books were the currency of the underworld.