This whip-smart satire of the European Union, set in the union’s de facto capital of Brussels, serves as a timely critique of self-serving officials and bureaucratic absurdity.

In a bid to strengthen its reputation in a climate of Euroscepticism, the E.U. plans to mark its 50th anniversary with a special celebration event. Fenia Xenapoulou, the ambitious Greek-Cypriot directorate of the Department of Culture, sees an opportunity to shine and volunteers to take up the reins on the Big Jubilee Project; a responsibility she is quick to offload on to her subordinate Martin Susman. Martin’s resulting proposal places Auschwitz at the centre of the celebrations in a suspect attempt to highlight European commonality over the resurgence of nationalistic populism.

Elsewhere a mysterious Polish man with dual identities is fleeing Brussels, an ailing police inspector investigates a hushed up murder case, and an elderly gentleman begins his life in a retirement home. More surreally, a large pig is spotted hurtling around the city streets, but no one is able to trace this porker on the lam. These seemingly disparate threads gradually overlap to tell a broader story of unrest in Brussels.

In The Capital, Menasse shows how hubristic eurocrats warp the ideals of the common market in pursuit of personal prestige and another leg up on the political ladder. Rather than discuss any significant issues that directly affect their increasingly disaffected citizens, these policy makers are busy playing glorified party planners and having lengthy debates about why it isn’t fair that when people Google the European People’s Party, their first result is the identically acronymed European Pig Producers. As Martin Susman discovers while buying some long johns for a trip to wintry Poland, even underwear has to comply with extensive E.U. guidelines.

One of the novel’s running jokes is the E.U.’s seeming derision of the humanities. Fenia Xenapoulou echoes the wider sentiment within the commission when she declares her own department as “a meaningless ministry without a budget or any weight […] without influence or power.” She goes so far as to declare her promotion from lowly officer within Trade to directorate of Culture as a “demotion, a career slump, a rejection.” One suspects this is Menasse contending that it’s no wonder government officials are so out of touch with the people when even the enriching joy of reading a novel is deemed “crazy” by these dignitaries.

And yet, for all his jibes and needling, Menasse clearly has a deep-rooted affection for what the E.U. represents at its core. The Auschwitz celebrations may be a cynical political ploy to curry favour with the public, but the continual references to the Holocaust and its survivors serve as a reminder of how easily feuding nations can lead to genocide and why a federation is needed to safeguard and unify European citizens. As Martin declares, the E.U. is meant to be “a guardian of the lessons of history”.

The Capital is far from being a doorstopper, yet that doesn’t stop the Austrian author crowding his pages with a cast of thousands, with new names popping up well into the third act. It is difficult to keep up with all the dramatis personae or evolve attachment to any singular character.

The denouement is also deliberately lacklustre. Storylines fizzle out rather than end with a bang, reflecting how in a world of rolling news, today’s hot political headline is all but forgotten by the next week. While that may be true to modern life, it does feel a little unsatisfying in fiction. As it stands, The Capital is a multi-faceted novel of ideas which will inspire great debate about the E.U.’s evolving role in contemporary Europe.

"The Capital" is a terrific read, packed with great characters, an intriguing plot . . .it just grabs you. It's sharp, funny, and moving.

And then there are the pigs.

Yes, it's the Year of the Pig, there's a pig, or maybe even pigs, on the loose in Brussels, and there are factions in the EU that want to break loose and export pig parts to China. "The Capital" of the title is Brussels which is the capital of the EU and where the characters from all over Europe meet. For Americans, the European Union is sort of a mysterious thing and this novel does a lot to explain how it works, why it works, and how it doesn't.

There are lots of plots, each one worthy of a book of it's own. But the overarching story comes from the Department of Culture, where a plan is forming to name Auschwitz as the birthplace of the Commission, where in the name of "never again" European nations would join to emphasize union as opposed to nationalism. There's the idea of inviting all the survivors of Auschwitz still living, except no one has a list. There's that murder at the Atlas hotel that has vanished from the records, an elderly economist with the most radical philosophy about changing the world, a real Auschwitz survivor, and the rampaging pig.

I was sorry when "The Capital" ended. Kudos to Robert Menasse and translator Jamie Bulloch for this tart, smart novel.