Cobain’s Disciples

March 2017, 200 pages

Available material: English sample, German sample

Foreign editions: Poland (Stara szkola)

A young Bohemian Bukowski writes the testimony of his generation.

The novel Cobain’s Disciples by the young author Miroslav Pech is a novel about a “lost generation for the 21st century.” In four parts it describes early childhood, school years, puberty and finally the growth into adulthood of the hero, an “ordinary boy” from a small town. If you thought that life would be rosy, with unlimited possibilities for the youth after the fall of communism, you’re way off the mark. A group of teenagers tries to escape their mundane reality through the constant, rebellious intake of drugs and alcohol, worthless provocations and hopeless attempts at music.  However, it turns out that the destructive power of this group of friends can be a bonding element and a reason to live. Although the novel is aimed at the author’s and the narrator’s contemporaries, its appeal is universal thanks to the timelessness of the topics with which it deals: intergenerational conflict, the search for identity and an authentic life as well as the paralysis of freedom. Whether due to a lack of will or money, it turns out the benefits of freedom are often unreachable. What makes Pech’s novel such a treasure is its precise ear for language, the elegant feeling for dialogue and sense of humour (often gallows humour). Put on some Nirvana, light up a joint and crack the book.