...A disaffected German comes of age and sets out on a lifelong journey to discover himself through sex, drugs and, ultimately, spirituality in Mitze’s novel. Walter Herzog was born in a small town outside of Frankfurt to an emotionally detached mother and a Nazi-sympathizing stepfather at the tail end of World War II. Teenage Walter and his pals come to school drun...

...hen the Russians released him back to Germany in 1947, he could not work in his own bakery because of his membership in Hitler's National Socialistic Democratic Party, the Waffen SS, and the Sturm Abteilung. Of great significance in Walter's life was his unawareness of Friedrich not being his biological father. Walter did not think differently until much later, when he tu...