Max’s wife has taken a job in Paris and she will be gone four of the seven days of the week. Their boys, all teenagers, are generally self-sufficient, so Max, who is an author and also runs a local pub, is left to himself and his own thoughts. We spend those first four days (of his wife’s new job) with Max as he tells us about his wife, his boys, and stories of the pub and its many patrons (quirky and otherwise) and life in general. No matter what he is talking about, there seems to be an underlying love of life itself, and a fondness for all manner of humanity with it being at all saccharine.

I’ve read all of Alex Capus’ fiction that is available in English and, while this novel will not unseat my favorite, which is still [Leon and Louise] , I enjoyed this book immensely. There is something about Capus’s stories—the way he sees people—I thought it might be empathy, and that’s there...but his translator, John Brownjohn,puts it this way: "…I think ‘humanity’ is a keyword in Capus’ writing. He always gives one a sympathetic insight into the essential humanity of his characters, from the homesick German shipbuilders in [A Matter of Time] to the young lovers in [Léon and Louise] to the youthful bank robbers in [Almost Like Spring] or the three protagonists in his latest novel [A Price to Pay] …."

Translating Alex Capus: An Interview with John Brownjohn by Daniel Hahn ( )