This coming-of- age novel gradually pieces together a mosaic of the era of deep normalization under President Husák, when most citizens of Communist Czechoslovakia did not even dare to think that the downfall of the system was within reach.
Dodgeball is one of its author’s most successful novels, whether in terms of numbers of copies sold or the responses of critics, including some from abroad, or readers.
Helena Součková, an eight-year-old schoolgirl in a small provincial town, deals not only with the uniquely dismal side of life in communist Czechoslovakia.
In telling the stories of several generations of one family, the author sketches the development of Czech society in the recent past. His version of history is replete with humour and hyperbole, as well as emotional depth.
