https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/03/nietzsche-and-the-burbs-review-lars-iyer-wittgenstein-jr

Lars Iyer’s ambitious follow-up to Wittgenstein Jr tracks a gang of smart-aleck sixth formers as they explore nihilism in the suburbs

Lars Iyer’s follow-up to the celebrated Wittgenstein Jr is another attempt to treat his erstwhile academic specialism, European philosophy, as the basis for deadpan observational comedy. The more specific aim this time around is to examine the meaning of existence through the indulgent chatter, curricular and otherwise, of smart-aleck sixth-formers at a present- day comprehensive school in Wokingham, Berkshire. Topics include free will, the end of history, Gaia, wellbeing, the concept of “basic needs”, Beckett’s play Endgame and the virtues of nothingness. The result is certainly creditable – vivid, tickling and spry. It’s also remarkably unkempt.

The narrator, Chandra, is firmly ensconced in a gang of four when he befriends the “new kid”, a former private-school boy who physically resembles Friedrich Nietzsche (minus the moustache) and promotes a familiar nihilist agenda. Before long, Chandra and co have started a Dostoevsky book club and are on the hunt for an idiot’s guide to The Idiot and wondering how you pronounce the name of the Romanian-born essayist and Nietzsche-worshipper Cioran.