This is a small town that revolves around a brewery. The narrator's father is the manager, and his Uncle Pepin is one of the workers. In this town where hardly anything ever happens, the Nazi conquerors pass through, and the "liberating" Soviet tanks arrive, until the communist regime changes everything definitively. But not so much for Uncle Pepin, one of Hrabal's most brilliant literary creations. He continues to frequent the town's American bar, giving explanations about sexual hygiene to the girls and drinking beer like a sponge. With his peculiar style, full of humor and tenderness, Hrabal once again portrays what we all are (or almost all of us): beings subjected to the vicissitudes of history whose only escape is to enjoy the dance, even if we're dancing with the ugliest girl.
