Status Updates From My Name Was Five: A Novel ...

I also love his mom, who always says, "The hell you are!" about every new stupid Nazi thing he comes home with (ie. teacher said this, they're making us do that...) Anyway, if Heinz Kohler is still alive and I'm still as amazed when I finish this, I think I want to send him an email.

This book is really excellent so far: bills itself as a novel, but barring a (probably fictitious) framing device that other reviewers have called out, it's pretty much a straight memoir. Unadorned prose contained in a floppy paperback "textbook" format, but a terrific feat of memory and immersion, and I love the author's inclusion of ephemera from his childhood.