Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Capital  By  cover art

The Capital

By: Robert Menasse, Jamie Bulloch - translator
Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Set on capturing the elusive inner workings of the European Union, Robert Menasse, one of Austria's most creative thinkers, moved to the EU's headquarters in Brussels for an enthralling, wine-soaked tour of supranational institutions. The resulting novel has become an international sensation, translated from German into more than 20 languages and deemed "the first great EU novel" (Politico).

At the heart of a cast as diverse as the union itself is Fenia Xenapoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently "promoted" to the Department of Culture, who hopes to revamp the European Commission's image by proclaiming Auschwitz as its birthplace with the "Big Jubilee Project." Other tragic heroes, clever schemers, and involuntary accomplices are intricately woven, revealing the absurdities - and real dangers - of a fiercely nationalistic "union."

Mordantly funny and piercingly urgent, The Capital, the winner of Germany's highest fiction prize, is an "elegantly written, beautifully constructed" (Die Zeit) feat of world literature.

©2017 Suhrkamp Verlag; translation copyright 2019 by Jamie Bulloch (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What listeners say about The Capital

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    33
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great realistic story of our time

l loved it. excellent timely satire. lots of heart and plenty of brains

the reader used the right tone for a satire
and pronounced all the words in several languages clearly

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator is just okay

Multiple characters of different genders, from different countries and the narrator does the exact same voice for all of them. It was difficult to keep track of who was talking.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The ending is an escape hatch

Fascinating, rich story with great characters and insight on European efforts to transcend/ deal with nationalism... but the last chapter should have two or three more. I felt as if Menasse abandoned his story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!