S Pitěrou Češi přežijou – Šťastný Ernest (2013)

This humorous Czech-language novel follows Mr Pitěra and his family through a turbulent era, the time after the end of the world that never happened, when events arise that common sense cannot explain. Laughter, the book suggests, has not disappeared even when life is at stake, and it helps ease stress and bring joy. Seen through fly-specked glasses, the family and its surroundings provide a comic panorama of contemporary life. Mr Pitěra, a former champion in various contests, faces the changing times in his underpants and with bags of discounted food, unshaken by almost anything because he has lived through worse. He likes headcheese, beer and football, and suffers from severe flatulence. His wife Věruška loves endless television serials and their children, unemployed Čeněk and Květa. Čeněk has a mentally ill wife, Maruška, and an abandoned son, while Květa is well married to businessman Miloš Nguyen, with whom she has a son, Fanoušek, a born entrepreneur. The whole family sets off on a trip to Greece combined with participation in a general strike, and the book reveals how their adventure ends.