Sweet Chocolate (PB) (2021)

Strictly speaking, 'Sweet Chocolate', first part of the trilogy together with 'A Long Strange Trip' and 'Towards the End of the Night', is one of the countless variations of Billy Wilder's 'boy meets girl'.

But it's not that simple - is the beginning the end or the end the beginning? There are time leaps, flashbacks, changes of perspective and even overlaps caused by them. Reality, dreams and prophecies, inner monologue, dialogues and chats. Helpful, puzzling or completely missing chapter headings ... Sounds like a labyrinth and hopeless confusion - but surprisingly it's not at all. The narrative is entertaining and comprehensible. A lightness pervades the short novel, although at the center is a difficult, contradictory, multi-layered, self-centered, failed spirit who, after too long a period of seclusion, attempts to find his place again in the midst of life.

As you read, all the little pieces of the puzzle fall into place. And with parts 2 and 3, which are both sequel and supplement, the big pieces too.