A review by serendipitysbooks
The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 The Discomfort of Evening won the International Booker in 2020. When Jas is ten her older brother drowns in an ice-skating accident. Grief causes her family to unravel and Jas also has to deal with feeling responsible for his death. There’s a big focus on bodily functions, animal cruelty and death, violence, emotional abuse, plus self-harming sexual behaviour. Additionally the family belongs to a harsh punitive Christian sect and these beliefs added an additional level of darkness and judgement to the novel. Certainly there is little evidence of love or communication. While I can appreciate the role these factors play in the plot and in illustrating the book’s themes they are not things that I enjoy reading about. So objectively a good book, just not one suited to my reading tastes. 
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