Surrender on Demand

Neither man nor woman, hero and antihero at once, Schelvis cheerfully recounts a life that began in a seaside village beneath a steelworks, at a so-called special school for children the system had written off. Work there means windowless places run by the clock, but Schelvis wants to command instead of serve. After an act of violence among friends, Schelvis flees to the city: life on the street, a landlord with wandering hands, a commune of begging artists. With a journalist's help, Schelvis even tries selling victimhood as a way out. A carnivalesque satire about class and the question of who may choose their fate.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

159 pages in the original

Genres

Satire, Coming of age (assigned by AI)

First published

2025 by Pluim

Author's age

34 when first published

ISBN

9789493420021 (original)