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irenevh's review against another edition
1.0
Although I have a profound Respect for Mulisch for writing such a long book, I honestly hate my Dutch teachers for making me read this book.
Putting aside that the plot of this book slightly me upsets me as a religious person, I only actually enjoyed about a maximum of 20 pages of this book. Out of the freaking 900 and something.
The relationships between the characters in this book are pretty fucked up, and make me wonder what went on in the writers head.
Some might say this is the best Dutch book there is, I strongly disagree. I don't read a lot of Dutch literature (the ones I had to in high school made me either depressed or just really weirded out), but I cannot believe this book is the best we've got.
the story just takes too long, the ending is very strange and everything in this book is strange as hell. (SPOILER ALERT) I mean, how can I take a book seriously if it it is trying to make me believ that a drunken man got too close to figuring out that Angels made WWII happen, and so they throw a meteorite on him?!?!
I would not recommend this book to anyone, as i hated it profoundly and wasted an awful lot of time on this thick pile of paper.
Putting aside that the plot of this book slightly me upsets me as a religious person, I only actually enjoyed about a maximum of 20 pages of this book. Out of the freaking 900 and something.
The relationships between the characters in this book are pretty fucked up, and make me wonder what went on in the writers head.
Some might say this is the best Dutch book there is, I strongly disagree. I don't read a lot of Dutch literature (the ones I had to in high school made me either depressed or just really weirded out), but I cannot believe this book is the best we've got.
the story just takes too long, the ending is very strange and everything in this book is strange as hell. (SPOILER ALERT) I mean, how can I take a book seriously if it it is trying to make me believ that a drunken man got too close to figuring out that Angels made WWII happen, and so they throw a meteorite on him?!?!
I would not recommend this book to anyone, as i hated it profoundly and wasted an awful lot of time on this thick pile of paper.
saragan83's review
By far my favorite book. This book gives an amazing view on spirituality and the interconnectedness of the Earth.
swurt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cazaam's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't finish, I gave up. Reading this book was like having a terribly annoying, self absorbed, pretentious person tell me all the pseudo-intellectual "European" things they have done. I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was the translation? Was this book translated or did Mulisch write it in English? I don't remember. I don't give up on books, so this is really rare for me. I don't want to give it one star, because maybe somewhere in the 600 pages I didn't read it has some redeeming qualities, but reading the first 200 pages was really unenjoyable, I couldn't stand it any more.
maartjs's review against another edition
4.0
Geen idee hoe ik dit moet beoordelen. Het voelt op veel momenten zeer pretentieus, maar tegelijkertijd zijn de zaken die worden besproken zeer interessant en nodigen uit naar verder eigen onderzoek. Blij dat ik het gelezen heb, maar ook wel blij om nu door te gaan met iets anders.
exeidur's review against another edition
4.0
I liked it well enough! I read it in Dutch (the original language) and it was quite hard to get through at 16 years old, but doable. The teacher recommended we give it a few rereads when we're older, but I've yet to start on one and I'm not sure I ever will. Don't get me wrong, it's very well written and the knowledge present in this book is absolutely amazing and overwhelming, but it's just a bit too much. Would recommend this book if you can read the Dutch original, don't know about the English translation!