Zermatt Book

Calvin Dort Becker returns in a timely and timeless story about the volcanic sexual curiosity of a 14 year-old boy born in a fundamentalist family so strict that he's never seen a film, watched television or danced (and even has to hide his 5 precious copies of 'Mad' magazine in the attic). It is 1966 and Ralph and Elsa Becker, devout Presbyterian missionaries from Kansas stationed in Switzerland, have embarked on their modest annual skiing holiday with their three children: sadistic 18-year old Janet, angelic Rachael, and our narrator, the irrepressible and still innocent Calvin who puzzles over his sisters' bras as they hang on the washing line, hidden by billowing sheets...But at the Hotel Riffelberg, a supposed safe haven from those jazz loving sinners further down the mountain in Zermatt, Calvin falls willingly into the hands of Eva, the young waitress who begins his initiation into ecstasies he can barely comprehend. When his mother catches him supposedly in the act, the resulting family crisis triggers an even greater crisis of faith in his father that results in a climactic end to Calvin's childhood. With its echoes of John Irving and Philip Roth and its own uniquely human (and humane) voice, ZERMATT is a tender, true and laugh-out-loud funny coming-of-age gem.Read More