2.21k reviews for:

Illan epämukavuus

Lucas Rijneveld

3.32 AVERAGE


Prachtig geschreven, maar kreeg er hetzelfde nare gevoel van als bij Het Smelt van Lize Spit - wat ongetwijfeld de bedoeling was, maar voor mij lag het er veel te dik bovenop. De passages waarin de kinderen elkaar onderling, zichzelf of dieren mishandelen bléven maar komen en dan ook uiterst gedetailleerd omschreven. Ze waren allemaal shockerend wat in die zin goed gedaan is, maar voor mij was het een veel beter boek geweest als die hoeveelheid schokkende gebeurtenissen wat meer was ingeperkt. Blij dat hij uit is.

I found this book strangely compelling. It’s beautifully written but parts of the book are so uncomfortable to read.
The book deals with some very strange subjects including the extreme over sexualisation of children and incest with no apparent reasoning behind it.
Despite this I still found that I wanted to read on, even just to see if anything was explained (which it isn’t really)
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“We find ourselves in loss and we are who we are - vulnerable beings, like stripped starling chicks that fall naked from their nests and hope they'll be picked up again.” 
 
On a rural farm in the wintry Netherlands lives a family of six — ten-year-old Jas, her parents, and three siblings — defined by their unwavering faith in God and the simple agricultural life they have resigned themselves to. When the eldest son Matthies dies while ice skating, the family’s deceptively mundane and normal lives are shaken up as they suffer blow after blow compounding their dysfunctional relationships. At its core, The Discomfort of Evening is about grief, specifically the grief and trauma that haunt the family grappling with Matthies’ death, the foot-and-mouth disease that strikes their farm, and a seemingly unrelenting God they continue to worship. Jas’s mum retreats into herself and gradually stops eating; her dad becomes increasingly violent and distant from his wife; her sister Hanna acts out; her brother Obbe grows to torture animals. But the most afflicted by Matthies’ death is Jas. 
 
This is where the novel shines. Jas, convinced she is to blame for her brother’s death, dons a red coat and for the rest of the novel, refuses to take it off. Rijneveld never explicitly states why she does so but that is intentional. Her coat shields her from thoughts of her brother’s death (however futile it may be) and like how she is swallowed up by the increasingly dirty jacket, she is soon trapped in her own thoughts, obsessed with a search for an answer that was never there to begin with. 
 
“ ‘One day I’d like to go to myself,’ I say quietly, pushing the pin into the soft flesh of my navel. I bite my lip so as not to make a sound, and a trickle of blood runs down to the elastic of my pants and soaks into the fabric.” 
 
Jas’ despair manifests in her heightened desire to leave her community with Hanna, her souring friendship with Belle, and her weird childlike fixation on Jews hiding in her basement from Nazis. In Rijenveld’s novel, however, trauma is more complex, more ambiguous, and perhaps more unusually focused on the disquieting symptoms of grief. There are some genuinely subversive and sexual scenes in the novel, made only more unsettling when you remember Jas is ten years old.
In two separate incestuous incidents, Jas, Obbe, and Hanna explore their bodies together and Obbe’s cruelty towards animals translates into violence against his sisters. In another, Jas watches Obbe insert an artificial insemination kit for cows into Belle, captured in detail through Rijneveld’s writing.
 

However, the explorations of sexuality and violence are not necessarily gratuitous — the scenes serve as Rijneveld’s comment that grief can be repulsive, something that simply cannot be categorised as sadness or anguish. Nevertheless, Rijneveld also depicts the more conventional nature of grief.
By the end of Act 2, the family’s cows are slated to be slaughtered due to the foot-and-mouth disease, and Jas’ father and Obbe display more emotion here than at the loss of Matthies. Her father’s bottled emotions spill over, leading to an outburst where he protests the killings with bible verses.
 
However, the pacing of the first two acts was undermined by the novel’s final act, which lulled in places and writhed slowly towards the ending. After the “climax” of the slaughtered cows, there wasn’t anything particularly notable in Act 3. Trauma that had already been well established was examined again and near the last twenty pages, I was left wondering how Rijneveld would conclude the novel.
Jas’s suicide is a very tragic but natural way to end the novel, but the scene where she decided to do so felt so rushed and ruined what could have been a dreadful scene to behold. That may be the point — that there isn’t a specific breaking point for Jas — but the way it was written left me with a sense of “Oh, that’s it?” instead of a looming fear of her death.


The third act thus felt, at best, unnecessary, or at worst, contrived to the point that it tarnished the well-crafted exploration of intergenerational religious trauma
 
This isn’t to say I regretted reading The Discomfort of Evening. I just wish the ending struck as much of a chord in me as the first 100 pages did. Months after reading this novel, I still have conflicting feelings towards the novel. Grief is rarely so simple, but perhaps it’s best captured in Rijneveld’s own words: 
 
“Lots of people want to run away, but the ones who really do rarely announce it beforehand: they just go." 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

Ik wilde weten waar de hype rond dit boek vandaan kwam. Ik ben tot pagina 96 gekomen. Daarna wilde ik niet meer want
1. de metaforen raken driekwart van de tijd kant nog wal
2. de religieuze toon hoeft niet iedere drie pagina's opnieuw gezet te worden
3. de hamster
4. de punaise
5. het blok groene zeep
toen kreeg ik ook constipatie van dit verhaal dus ok doei.
dark funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Unspoken grief in a family on a Dutch farm. Kids experimenting with sex and death

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
“I asked God if he please couldn't take my brother Matthies instead of my rabbit. 'Amen.'
Ten-year-old Jas has a unique way of experiencing her universe: the feeling of udder ointment on her skin as protection against harsh winters; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads; the sound of 'blush words' that aren't in the Bible. But when a tragic accident ruptures the family, her curiosity warps into a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies - unlocking a darkness that threatens to derail them all."

NO SPOILERS

This is a touching, somewhat beautiful, though disturbing debut novel, which, as I write has been selected for the short list of the Booker International Prize 2020 and deservedly so.

Rijneveld writes in the first person, the tale being told through the thoughts and observations of ten year old Jas up to her being twelve…and what observations! They sometimes seem too advanced for a child but this is no ordinary child and this is no ordinary book. I especially loved the portrayal of the slow decline of her mother which is full of pathos and often, desperation.

Rijneveld’s/Jas’ style flows well and is easy to read; she had me at the first line and not many authors do that.
I did have to frequently remind myself that the jaw dropping naivity of the children was due to their strict, reformist upbringing, at times more cult than religion.

There are scenes which some readers will find uncomfortable, some are very disturbing but none are gratuitous. And whilst the first line had me hooked, the last had me holding my breath. A stunning debut, beautifully written and I assume skillfully translated; I’m crossing my fingers for the Booker!

Thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for the Advanced Reader Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Boeken waar iedereen super lovend en lyrisch over is, daar wacht ik altijd even mee. In dit geval totdat het in de online bibliotheek verscheen. Niet elk boek wil ik bezitten, bewaren en opnieuw lezen. En dit is er zo eentje. Ja, het is knap wanneer je het als schrijver voor elkaar krijgt dat je lezers verder willen blijven lezen in zo'n heftig (en smerig) verhaal. Tegelijkertijd is het zo over the top, dat je als lezer vanzelf gaat letten op inconsequenties in het verhaal. Die kun je in recensies van anderen lezen. Voor mij was één keer lezen voldoende ongemak.
dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book certainly left me with a pretty high level of discomfort, which will stay with me for several evenings, so it did exactly what it said on the tin. 

For me, this book is essentially witnessing and experiencing abuse (all the types) through the innocent lense of a 10 year old girl. I can't figure out if this book is really cleaver or just really mucked up - possibly both. I love a dark and gritty read and I do not consider myself a sensitive and easily triggered reader, but I wished I didn't read this one.

If you're anything like me, I know this review will only serve to make you want to read it all the more, but at least I tried! 
dark sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

De eerste helft van het boek was moeilijk,ik moest het wegleggen voor enkele maanden voor ik het weer kon oppakken. De andere helft vervolgens in een ademteug uitgelezen.

De titel van het boek geeft weer welk gevoel ik kreeg tijdens het lezen, ongemak. Tegelijk raakte het boek me diep. Hoe kinderen opgroeien in een gezin wat steeds verder ontspoort. De gedachten van Jas die je meenemen steeds verder de diepte en duisternis in. Hoe alle gruwelen binnen de kluwen van het gezin blijft, waarbij de kinderen noch ouders een uitweg vinden, steeds steeds verder vervagen. De laatste vloek van de duisternis. Elkaar meetrekken in het misbruik en het geweld.

Lucas wist me opnieuw en opnieuw te raken met zinnen uit Jas’ gedachten waarvan ik niet wist dat ik zelf ooit de woorden zou kunnen vinden. Het boek is wreed, gruwelijk, tegelijk onroerend prachtig. Ik voelde me begrepen door Jas en tegelijk akelig blootgelegd.