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A review by andrewspink
Het laatste voorjaar by Minke Douwesz
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sometimes you read a book to learn about a different culture (or situation, or time, or whatever) than your own and sometimes it is nice to read a book which you can relate to. I thought this book would be the former, but actually it was more of the latter. A feest van herkenning. For a start, the book is based on a long cycle ride by the main protagonist. Then various scenes are in places I know well. When they walk from Sonsbeek Park in Arnhem, they must have gone within a hundred meters of my daughter's house. Her mother taught botany (which I studied as a student) - fancy that being a separate school subject previously!
Sometimes when a book references other books it is to ones that I have never read, but in this case there were a lot that I have read and enjoyed. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk gets a few mentions, and I had great fun reading that.
The book was readable, but I did have to look up more words than usual (including krols, snaaks, dralen, versjteerde and hovaardij). I was happy to be reading an e-book where the dictionary is just a click away.
For much of the long cycle ride. Ese is thinking about various things. That gives the author scope to not only develop the plot as to what lead up to her decision to go on this ride and so on, but also to ponder various issues. For instance, what is the use of learning the names of plants and animals? 'Names, different words for each separate thing, sharpen your observations, the ability to tell things apart'. So true! Also the discussion on whether domestic cats should be kept indoors. Surely the availability of food and habitat determines their population size, not predation pressure? 'It is convenient for the agricultural organisations and project developers to suddenly give cats the blame'.
Tomorrow we discuss the book in our book club. I am lloking forward to hearing what the others thought of it.
Sometimes when a book references other books it is to ones that I have never read, but in this case there were a lot that I have read and enjoyed. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk gets a few mentions, and I had great fun reading that.
The book was readable, but I did have to look up more words than usual (including krols, snaaks, dralen, versjteerde and hovaardij). I was happy to be reading an e-book where the dictionary is just a click away.
For much of the long cycle ride. Ese is thinking about various things. That gives the author scope to not only develop the plot as to what lead up to her decision to go on this ride and so on, but also to ponder various issues. For instance, what is the use of learning the names of plants and animals? 'Names, different words for each separate thing, sharpen your observations, the ability to tell things apart'. So true! Also the discussion on whether domestic cats should be kept indoors. Surely the availability of food and habitat determines their population size, not predation pressure? 'It is convenient for the agricultural organisations and project developers to suddenly give cats the blame'.
Tomorrow we discuss the book in our book club. I am lloking forward to hearing what the others thought of it.