[2][3] The novel tells the story and concerns of Joseph Skizzen, whose father got the family out of Austria in 1938, pretending to be Jewish, then disappeared in London.

Relocated with his mother and sister to the fictional Woodbine, Ohio, Skizzen grows up to be a thoroughly middling nobody, a low-skilled amateur piano player who finds his niche as a professor of music at a small Bible college, by passing himself off as just the right kind of exotic, specializing in Arnold Schoenberg and atonal music, and successfully lying about his training and credentials.

In addition, there are a few separate scenes from Skizzen's life, including two lectures on contemporary music to freshman, and conversations with his mother about gardening.

After the war, the remaining Fixel family is relocated to America, ending up in the small town of Woodbine, Ohio.

Joey spends two years at Augsburg, but quits after his French teacher clumsily tries to seduce him, and the rector forbids him from playing the organ part-time at his mother's Catholic church.

He takes a job at the nearby Urichstown public library, buying a run-down car, forging a learner's permit for himself.

He lives a life of mediocrity and petty fakeries, culminating in pretending to have been born and raised in Vienna, the son of a second violinist for the philharmonic.

In this exuberantly learned bildungsroman ... internationally lauded virtuoso Gass reflects on humanity's crimes and marvels, creating his funniest and most life-embracing book yet.Gass beautifully coaxes the unheard music from a seemingly muted life.Gass remains a master of apt metaphors, graceful sentences and a flinty, unforgiving brand of humor; it may be the most entertaining novel you'll read that half wishes humanity was wiped off the map.