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A review by deedireads
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.
I’d owned a copy of The Safekeep since before it was published (thanks, Avid Reader Press!), but for whatever reason it just never bubbled up to the top of my TBR — until it was nominated (and then shortlisted) for the Booker Prize. And WOW, am I glad for it. I loved this one.
The Safekeep is a fever dream of a novel about a woman named Isabel in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. She lives a life of curmudgeonly solitude in the house her family moved into during WWII — until her brother’s latest girlfriend comes to stay, and her belongings start to disappear one by one (or do they?).
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, except that the tone and trajectory does a 180 about halfway through, and there’s a decent twist that you can see coming if you look carefully (although I did not). Also, fair warning, this book is extremely horny.
What an incredible debut novel. What a look at desire and loneliness and what home means and the obsessive pursuit of the thing you want. But above all, what a look at complicity and what it means to have been complicit.
I’m still rooting for James, but I definitely wouldn’t be mad if this won the Booker.
I’d owned a copy of The Safekeep since before it was published (thanks, Avid Reader Press!), but for whatever reason it just never bubbled up to the top of my TBR — until it was nominated (and then shortlisted) for the Booker Prize. And WOW, am I glad for it. I loved this one.
The Safekeep is a fever dream of a novel about a woman named Isabel in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. She lives a life of curmudgeonly solitude in the house her family moved into during WWII — until her brother’s latest girlfriend comes to stay, and her belongings start to disappear one by one (or do they?).
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, except that the tone and trajectory does a 180 about halfway through, and there’s a decent twist that you can see coming if you look carefully (although I did not). Also, fair warning, this book is extremely horny.
What an incredible debut novel. What a look at desire and loneliness and what home means and the obsessive pursuit of the thing you want. But above all, what a look at complicity and what it means to have been complicit.
I’m still rooting for James, but I definitely wouldn’t be mad if this won the Booker.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Genocide, Death of parent, and War