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A review by leahhateshardbacks
The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I should start by saying this book has a million trigger warnings - please check them out before picking up if you need to do so. I was shocked by the amount of gruesome and traumatic things that popped up in here and for someone who is fainter of heart I imagine this could be distressing.
•••
After their brother dies, Jas and her 2 remaining siblings experience grief in different (but equally unsettling) ways. Jas becomes anxious, compulsive, and submissive; Hanna becomes a pleasure and thrill seeker; Obbe becomes violent and sexually abusive. This book suggests the strange and varied ways grief can manifest itself in a cold and controlled environment, with emotionally unavailable parents and a fruitless and frigid landscape.
•••
What happens in this book is nothing short of fucked up. I thought I became somewhat desensitised to these sort of events but then something even more fucked up than the last thing would happen and my apparent comfort would be obliterated. I did not have a nice time reading this. I was uncomfortable about 80% of the time. It was certainly unique and perhaps I would return to it in a few years time - but I need the shock of not knowing anything about this before reading it to settle for a while.
•••
Amongst all the chaos there are some achingly true comments on grief and loss, my favourite, "Every loss contains all previous attempts to hang on to something you didn't want to let go of anyway, from a marble bag filled with the most beautiful marbles and rare shooters, to my brother."
•••
After their brother dies, Jas and her 2 remaining siblings experience grief in different (but equally unsettling) ways. Jas becomes anxious, compulsive, and submissive; Hanna becomes a pleasure and thrill seeker; Obbe becomes violent and sexually abusive. This book suggests the strange and varied ways grief can manifest itself in a cold and controlled environment, with emotionally unavailable parents and a fruitless and frigid landscape.
•••
What happens in this book is nothing short of fucked up. I thought I became somewhat desensitised to these sort of events but then something even more fucked up than the last thing would happen and my apparent comfort would be obliterated. I did not have a nice time reading this. I was uncomfortable about 80% of the time. It was certainly unique and perhaps I would return to it in a few years time - but I need the shock of not knowing anything about this before reading it to settle for a while.
•••
Amongst all the chaos there are some achingly true comments on grief and loss, my favourite, "Every loss contains all previous attempts to hang on to something you didn't want to let go of anyway, from a marble bag filled with the most beautiful marbles and rare shooters, to my brother."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Violence