You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
really strange reading experience (maybe by design) - well crafted, lots of recurring thematic symbols and elements to reflect on, brilliant point of view in the narrator, but was a bit of a slog to get through??
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Reminiscent of Max Porter's Grief is the Thing with Feathers but in a more rural setting, The Discomfort of Evening is pretty discomforting, but it reflects the torture of a young isolated mind trying to make sense of the cruelty of loss while her family crumbles around her. Christmas working in retail has me exhausted, so I'd like to reread this if I get the chance. Marieke Lucas's writing deserves patience as they mould their story with twisting language that left me rethreading several times as they jumped between events. Excited to see what they do next.
The accidental death of Jas’ brother ruptures the family - her parents descend into grief and Jas and her siblings’ morbid curiosities begin to run rampant.
This book is very definitely not for everyone - I thought it was excellent, but also found it deeply unsettling and I could only read it in small doses at a time, so don’t necessarily take this review as a recommendation. A child’s death is always going to cause turmoil, but as members of the rigid and emotionally repressive Reformed Church, there isn’t any conversation within the family about it or acknowledgement of the emotional impact. And so the destructive potential of grief is unleashed - Jas’ parents completely fall apart and their unspoken grief eclipses everything, including their ability to look after their remaining children, who, with no other adults stepping in, are effectively left to their own devices. It takes skill to write an adult book with such dark themes from a child’s POV, and Rijneveld manages it - ten-year-old Jas gives the story a childish naivety, but there’s enough to read between the lines and understand what’s happening. Separate from Jas’ childish bluntness, there’s an underlying matter-of-factness to the writing, suffusing the book with an essence of Dutchness, which I loved. Rijneveld also perfectly captures the way children draw connections between unrelated things and jump to funny conclusions, and how children with unanswered questions about “forbidden” subjects are only going to become increasingly curious. I’m an only child, but I assume what they get up to is not normal sibling behaviour and it was deeply uncomfortable to read. I really couldn’t see how the story was going to wrap-up, and gosh, what an ending - it was effective and left me reeling (I nearly threw the book across the room), but I also wanted to know how events would unfold afterwards. An excellently-written but deeply uncomfortable and disturbing story of the devastating potential of grief and emotional repression, family relationships and uncompromising faith.
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Het kwam gemaakt over. Arty-farty beschrijvingen, geforceerde beeldspraak. Na één derde hield ik het voor bekeken.
Ik kon mezelf er niet toe zetten om dit boek af te maken, voornamelijk vanwege de bizarheid van het verhaal. Het verlies van een zus of broer is afschuwelijk, maar de perverse manier waarop dat in dit boek werd verteld neemt af van zo’n ervaring.
Bewust niet afgelezen dus.
Bewust niet afgelezen dus.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The discomfort of this book is real...