Uwe Kopf's sardonic debut novel is brilliant, profoundly disturbing, and full of cheerfulness. It begins with an end. With Tom's end. In May 1998, "the 40-year-old boy," also known as Jesus, hangs himself in Hamburg-Barmbek "in the manner of the elderly." Tom is probably what society carelessly calls a failed existence - no luck with women, a casual job as a mail sorter, searching for a way out. Through the abysses and defeats, Tom is carried by his brother Sören and repeatedly by the next beer. Yet for every glimmer of hope, for every intoxication, there follows disillusionment. Until nothing works anymore. In the end, the question remains whether "The Smurfs' Song" will be played at his funeral, as Tom wished. In a virtuoso yet radically simple language, and with pop literary references, Uwe Kopf composes a narrative.