This hilarious and poignant novel follows twenty-year-old drama student Joachim (Josse) attempting to bridge the gap between the bizarre physical demands of his training and the rigid, alcohol-infused rituals of his grandparents' upper-class home. When he is accepted into a drama school in Munich, a housing shortage forces him to move into the "Pink Room" of his grandparents' magnificent villa, leading him into a double life defined by a spectacular clash of worlds.
By night, he enters a world frozen in time. His grandfather, a distinguished philosophy professor, and his grandmother, a former film and theatre diva, maintain a strict daily regime in which alcohol plays an important role. They begin their day with champagne accompanied by a dozen pills for their various ailments, move on to white wine for lunch and whiskey aperitifs, and end with red wine, Cointreau, and high-brow discussions about music and philosophy. While the narrator is often left completely drunk, his grandparents are miraculously wide awake and perfectly groomed at eight o'clock every morning.
By day, in complete contrast to this highly ritualized life, the protagonist is subjected to the chaotic environment of drama school. Here, the highest aim seems to be taking his personality apart completely. He is humiliated by teachers and forced to do things like "smile with his nipples," act like a machine, or channel the inner essence of a hippopotamus. As he struggles to find his voice - often failing to cry or laugh on command - he becomes a fascinated observer of his grandparents' glamorous yet fragile decline.
