Lunarreader in 2013

Hello to all of you,
i'm new in this group and i joined because it's nice to have a log about all the books read in a certain year. I was in the challenges groups before but i never reached the target numbers there so ... i'm here now ;-)
I will try my best again to read a serious number of books and to comment on them so that you can all take tips from my list if you like.
I'm not a native English speaker, so please accept my apologies in advance for all mistakes you'll find here.

To keep things easy, this message will be updated with the books read
1. Verzen van het leven en de dood by Amos Oz - january 6th - ***
2. De laatste vonken by Mari Strachan - january 13th - ***'
3. Speeldrift by Juli Zeh - february 3th - ***'
4. Slachthuis vijf by Kurt Vonnegut - february 14th - ***
5. Wie slim is vist hier by Marc Didden - february 16th - ***
6. Nauwelijks geraakt by Sandro Veronesi - march 9th - ***'
7. Welvaart zonder groei by Tim Jackson - march 31st - ****
8. Arend by Stefan Brijs - april, 10th - ****
9. Een dag in Gent by Herman Brusselmans, april, 14th - '
10. De Geruchten by Hugo Claus - may, 1st - **'
11. De verrekijker by Kees van Kooten - May, 9th - ***
12. Eva slaapt by Francesca Melandri - May, 20th - ****
13. De Maagd Marino by Yves Petry - June, 2nd - ***'
14. De bedelaar en andere verhalen by Fernando Pessoa - June, 11th - ****
15. De geheime schrift by Sebastian Barry - July, 8th - ****
16. Driemaal bij dageraad by Alessandro Baricco - July, 15th - ***'
17. Sicilië by multiple authors - July, 26th - ***
18. Nultijd by Juli Zeh - July, 29th - ****
19. Tuinfeest by Gyorgy Konrad - .... started .... - to be rated
20. Hoogteverschillen by Julian Barnes - August, 18th - ****
21. Aforismen & kort proza by Fernando Pessoa - August 28th - ****
22. De jaren in Birma by George Orwell - .... started .... - to be rated
23. De cementen tuin by Ian McEwan - november, 10th - ***'
24. Het lichtschip by Siegfried Lenz - november, 11th - ***'
25. Oorlog en Terpentijn by Stefan Hertmans - november 20th - *****
26. Hoe willen wij leven? by Peter Bieri - november 25th - ***'

Hi Lunarreader! I'm new to Club Read, too. :) Good luck with your reading this year!

And ... we have lift off ;-)
number 1 : Verzen van het leven en de dood by Amos Oz
A first book of this author for me. The book is kind of a circular story about an author and a book presentation and all his unstoppable imagination.
For me there are 2 major themes in this book. The first is clearly about writing and being an author, the imagination, building up a story, suggestions, minimal changes in circumstances that can lead a story a complete other way .... Other reviews here on LT tell that all characters are the author himself, but for me some are just "extra characters" in his imagination to create interaction with the author.
The second level or second theme "getting old" and the fragility of life. On top of all the characters (author or author's imagination) the difference between an older person (or character) and the younger is that they have a completely different viewpoint on the same situation, and thus another interpretation. Getting older is clearly fearsome for a lot of people amongst us and the author is no exception. In one of the key scenes the difference between young and older people is described and, in my humble opinion, it's no coincidence how this scene ends.
Hard to say if some of the story is autobiographic. I don't know Oz good enough.
Well written book, the circular effect of the story, the limited timeframe, the search for characters who are the author (all ?) or who are not ... Clearly Oz has no problems with inserting style patterns in his writing. But too me, after a good start there are some 20 - 30 pages where one is waiting for something to happen instead of just following the curious ways of the author's imagination. Then, happily, some action comes in and after this turnpoint it's easier to stay focused.

Liked your review. I started another Amos Oz book and set it aside. Seeing that you had to persevere to get to the essence makes me thing I should go back and try again.

Thanks SassyLassy! Yes, you should try again ;-) I also give up sometimes but only if there are errors in the story or plot and very seldom because of a for me unreadable style of writing. Some books turned out really fine once i got through a harder part, some didn't and then it felt like a real waste of time.
Good luck.

Hi, Lunar! I'm following your reading with pleasure :-)

Hi Jeb, good to see that real reading friends follow, whatever the challenge :-)

Enjoyed your review of that Amos Oz. Welcome to CR.

To dchaikin: thanks!

number 2: De laatste vonken by Mari Strachan, english title Blow on a dead man's embers. An emotional story about a husband suffering from his experiences in the first World War. His wife can not accept how he changed and searches, sometimes beyond the acceptable in those days, for the reasons.
I do have mixed feelings about this book:
First there is the brilliantly depicted atmosphere in the book which is already dual:
we get a good insight in family relations, more specific between husband and wife, the evocation of the problems, the social situation, the psychological wounds caused by the war, the unlimited love ... and the "paranormal" or "extranormal" aspects in the mind of the main character. For me they are meant to give us, readers, the feeling that in the psyche of mankind there is more then we know, or that we knew in that time.
This positive viewpoint is then nuanced by the author who surely also wants to tell us that war is a horror, that men and women can be cruel for one another, that family is not always a blessing and that people do not always have the best intentions.
As in her first book, Mari Strachan is very good in this atmospheric descriptions: the light, the noises, the perfumes of flowers, the dust caused by woodcarving ..
My mixed feelings are provoked by the other aspect of a novel: not the subject but the form, the writing style and story build up. And here i can not be as positive. It is slow, almighty slow. At first it seems smart, each very brief chapter goes so slow, but every change of chapter gives also a jump in time, sometimes just the next morning, sometimes more and in one odd occasion partially a flashback on the night before.
But that's all, there is nothing more. The expected suspense on what provokes the behaviour of the husband is so clear that you can see it coming from a distance. Even when you think, oh this was not all, there is a second drama building up, it ends so predictable ...
So, wrapping up, this book is very good for me because i like careful settings, i like well described characters, and i like very much good descriptions of what goes around in peoples heads. Added to this comes the good illustration of Celtic traditions disappearing in the need to integrate in England for the Welshmen. But it's not a brilliant book due to it being too slow and too predictable.
The earth hums in B flat, the debut of Mari Strachan, was better.

It's too bad that De laatste vonken wasn't better. I almost put it on my wish list when you mentioned WWI. I am a sucker for WWI and that time period for some reason. It was actually a detriment when I taught US history because I would spend over a month on WWI and have to skimp on some of the other standards to make up the time lost.

Dear fuzzy_patters,
don't get me wrong, it is a good book, i am a severe reviewer. It handles the period just after the war and the rehabilitation to normal life. Some of the phenomenoms lived by the characters are due to what happened in the war and so you have some reflections on that.
3,5 stars is a good quotation in my severe reviewing :-)

Intriguing review. Not the kind of book I'm searching out lately, but you have left me curious enough that I wouldn't mind reading it.

number 3: Speeldrift by Juli Zeh. A complex story, told in a long, elaborated fashion. This book from Zeh was her breaktrough and is pretty famous here in the Dutch and in the German speaking part of Europe. I can see why, the story is shocking and the many philosophical and psychological layers provoke the idea of a thoroughly masterminded plot.
But is it really so?
The story is about a young girl, gifted with high intelligence and so bored as hell on school. When another youngster, a boy, with apparently the same qualities arrives they decide to test the world around them. But do they really decide themselves or is one of them pulling the strings? Nihilism, scepticism and arrogance rule, or at least, they think so. All ends not well, for us normal people at least. For them? Future will tell, or make up your mind reading the book.
It is certainly a window on a generation lost between the blankets of freedom, war and politics, lies and reality or what is sold as reality in the press and in school. Fascinating.
For me, the other book of Juli Zeh that i read some time ago, Vrije val, is more intriguing, more finetuned in its philosophical backbone. This one is too 'wide', not condensed enough, in my humble opinion.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good book, a very good one, but Vrije val is better, sharper, also shocking but the shock is more precise. Here, Zeh needs long explanations and repeats to make her point. But, the author was younger then 30 when she wrote this book, 30 when it was first published, so still a masterpiece. And it got only better.
Looking forward for her newest book, to hit the shelves in march.

Another interesting review. For any English-only speakers, these are available in English - Vrije val as Dark Matter

Dark Matter looks interesting. I enjoyed your review Lunarreader.

to dchaikin: glad you like my reviews. I entered the titles in english but LT detects that i live in a dutch speaking country i guess. Anyhow, if you click through and you are in an english speaking country you see the work in english, no ?

to baswood: thanks !

4: Slachthuis vijf by Kurt Vonnegut, a classic.
I read this classic a first time long ago, when the animals could still speak and when i was a bright good looking young fellow, and mainly when this book did not yet acquire his current status as a classic.
Challenging and controversial at that time, end of the seventies, i now have to say that some humouristic aspects in Vonnegut's writing now seem more like a kind of gimmick, sometimes repeated too often
Beware, this book is still funny, very whitty at times, but it is essentially the sarcasm about American life and the things important to common Americans in that time, that strike me. The main character seems to be the incarnation of the all American Dream, but look closely and you'll see a pityful little man, trying at best to survive while chasing his fifteen minutes of fame.
The sarcasm and irony are OK, the word games and gimmicks are rather boring and i have always felt a bit uneased with sci-fi aspects in books.
The time travelling, the combination of true facts and sci-fi and fantasy, it surely makes Vonnegut an original author but will his work stand the test of time, that is the question.

Considering that the book was first published in 1969, I would venture to say that it has stood the test of time.

Edit: Wait a minute! Was that meant as a pun? I just realized that you could have been making a pun about time traveling rather than questioning the long-term impact of Slaughterhouse-Five.

Well, dear Fuzzy_patters, we are in 1969, are we not? :)

5: Wie slim is vist hier by Marc Didden, a very small hommage to independant bookshops edited by a collaboration between small independant bookshops here in Belgium, called "Confituur" (jam). The title is a translation from a sign outside a New York bookshop Gotham Book Mart that said "Wise men fish here".
Nice little story that starts with beautiful sentences like "independant bookshops are the rigs of intellect in the ocean of stupidity surrounding us". Later it becomes a bit more boring with memories on long lost bookshops. I would have preferred to see some support for those still standing and keeping the light burning ;-)

Welcome to Club Read. I'm enjoying your reviews.

To Rebeccanyc, thanks.
Looking at your library and your reading numbers i feel a bit like a dwarf :-)

Are we in 1969? I wouldn't know because I might not be born yet. Enjoyed your comments on Slaughterhouse-Five.

6: Nauwelijks geraakt by Sandro Veronesi. I do like Veronesi a lot, his book Kalme Chaos is one of my all-time favorites. This one, Nauwelijks geraakt, is one of his early works and the detailed descriptions of emotions, the behaviour of the main characters depicting their emotions through their deeds is already omnipresent.
This story describes the "senseless" existance of youngsters in Rome, Italy at the end of the eighties, studies, going out, using drugs of all kind, troubled in their relations between them, in difficulties in their relations with adults and their environment, ... it goes on and on untill there is a kind of a catharsis which, regrettably or not, still doesn't bring a way out.
Astonishing is maybe the best word for me to sum up this description of urban upper class life where happiness seems so far away.
A good book, but not his best for Veronesi, certainly not if you read Kalme Chaos which is a kind of crystallised description of emotions through behavioral actions.

7: Welvaart zonder groei by Tim Jackson, a fascinating book on how to turn the economy around for a welfaring, sustainable life, based on human social values in a non-growth based economy.
I can follow some of the premises and some not so good.
I do believe in a way of life that brings more prosperity with less consumption and with more time for reading, social participation, walking around in nature reserves and more attention for local markets, slow food and so on.
To the contrary, the half diabolic role given to inventions and new stuff, i'm not following. Agreed, new stuff just for the "new" of it, like clothes, can have perverted effects, not only ecologically but also socially.
But, in my humble opinion, it can also add dramatically to the quality of life. The author is very good in reminding us of our responsabilities in this "limited" planet but just in this lies for me the challenge. We can for instance create carbon neutral cars and fuels, i really believe in that. The author calls it "simplistic fairy tales".
So, i agree with Tim Jackson, a lot has to change. And fast! I have children and i care for their future. But i do believe technological evolution will help us a greater deal.
I'm not religious, otherwise i would say: let's pray i'm right, now i just say: let's keep up the debate on this.
Let's change!

Sounds like Tim Jackson's book Prosperity without growth economics for a small planet will strike a chord with many people.

To Baswood:
It certainly did with me, thanks for your comment.
One thing that i change from now on is adding a few simple questions to everything i buy: the first : will this really add to my wellfare? The second: will i damage someone else's wellfare? And is it sustainable?
Off course i do not pretend to have always the correct answer but simply the reflection is a first step.
Let's change, as i already said :)

absolutely

29 - Excellent and admirable plan!

8: Arend by Stefan Brijs, a gripping story about a boy, not loved, not wanted. An easy read on one hand, credit to the author, but a very hard read on the other hand due to the subject.
Children can be hard, even cruel to one another, but the total lack of loving care, compassion from some other characters in the book is so harsh, so brutal.... it made me sick.
A few years ago i read Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which is also a repelling story on children raised without love and with violence, and in that book the tension is so present it made my stomach turn everytime a burst out of the violence was described.
In this book, there is no tension, the violence is there, in your face. Realistic and sickening.
The few emotional moments the main character has with people trying to care, trying to give a ray of sunshine, are nice but can't take off the edges, and the edges they are razorsharp.
Relieve in the end, complete sadness, but still relieve.
No bedtime read.

9: Een dag in Gent by Herman Brusselmans, too stupid too tell something about it. The book is called "a day in Ghent", one of the beautiful historic cities in Flanders, Belgium, hometown of the author.
The author is quite famous in Belgium but for all the wrong reasons. Vulgarity from start to end, combined with the dullest things ever mentioned in a book.
I won this book at an event, i never read a book before by this author, although he has over 50 books, which is itself off course an indicator of quantity and not of quality, to the contrary.
I already knew why i never read a book of him before, now i know it for sure. A one off. Never again.

Number 10: De Geruchten by Hugo Claus. I don't know, i honestly don't. It's a nice book on simple people, living in a small village, getting involved in not so simple events, partially root caused in past and present wars. In part 1 we get in short chapters different viewpoints on the current events with now and then references to the past. In part 2 the only thing we get is an interview by the police of one of the main characters confessing a series of events that happened some undefined time later then the ones in part 1.
Allthough the author was for some time mentionned to be a candidate Nobel prize winner, or at least considered so here in Belgium, he never got to me. Not with his masterwork Het verdriet van België, and not with this one as well.
Good village life descriptions, a nice feeling of some characteristics of the "small" people, well written.....but not gripping, "the bite" completely missing.
I feel no sympathy with any of the characters, no compassion, nothing really. The events also start to look a bit grotesque to me as the story unfolds...
No, Claus, i gave him a second try, based on the recommendation by a notorious reader on the monthly bookevent "Uitgelezen" ("Finished reading") in Ghent, Belgium, but it's a fail.

11: De verrekijker by Kees van Kooten, a nice little book which is a gift in the book week here in Flanders (Belgium) and The Netherlands.
Small musings by the author about being an author, your memories and how one can jump to the wrong conclusions when confronted with memorabilia. In the main case it's about binoculars (hence the title of the book) from his father and a little note dating back to World War II. The author is in disbelief of his first conclusions: "no, my father wasn't like this", and goes on an investigative trip, distracted more then once by wild fantasies about what could have been.
Amusing and funny by times also because it "breathes" The Netherlands, and the typical every inch decent mentality, in each sentence.

12:Eva slaapt by Francesca Melandri, a very nice novel. Apart from some 70 pages (230 -300) where nothing much significant happens, this book gives you a very good impression of a forgotten part in the European history in the small region of Alto Adige / Südtirol, the border between Italy and Austria. I was there for a short while last summer and it's beautiful, quiet and hard to believe that there was a fight, less then 50 years ago, for basic rights such as to speak your mother tongue.
Besides this historical aspect it's a novel about love, about being a mother alone, about being the small girl of that mother, about rural harshness but also about the simple life in small communities... Through all these little aspects the book is a very rich story that unfolds slowly through two different timelines.
And then we must not forget the most important story: the search for a long lost love, the lover of the mother, but more important, the never-had father figure, the hero, the ideal image of the little girl on how her life could have, no, should have been. The little girl, in the second timeline herself an adult but still looking for true love, true companionship, her true identity? Question marks all over as she longs for this father that is not, for her roots which stay so important or does she tries to forget about them?
Tragic and beautiful, this aspect of the book should have been much more elaborated for me.
Short: beautiful but could still have been better ....

13: De Maagd Marino by Yves Petry, a very weird book, winner in 2011 of a big literature prize in the Dutch speaking part of the world, and from an author from whom i already read 2 books before, intellectualistic writing without real story where what the characters think is ten times more important then what they do or then what happens around them.
And again so in this book. Albeit that this one starts with some cruel and horrifying action, the killing of a man in a special way. Based on a true story that took place in Germany, but for the rest the pure imagination of the author.
The majority of the book goes on what happens before the killing and the narrative character is most of the time the victim. Two random people meet, both are living in a kind of parallel bubble next to the world. One an asocial partner at university, the other one with a complete asocial life. The first wants to "leave" this world, he wants to die, or at least that is the result of his own analysis after a shock that changes his life. The second one doesn't knows what he does, he lived in the shadow of his mother, that died recently, life seems tto much to handle. He gets involved in the first one his plan to "leave", very involved.
A lot of sociological bemusings, a nice parody on a tv-famous professor at a catholic university here in Flanders, again very explicit homosexual relationships (a so recurring theme in this author his works, it's like there are no other relationships) and random thoughts on the emptiness of life, dull jobs, closed mind relationships with parents, religion, ... all themes already present in earlier work by Petry.
This novel is by far the most easy to read, but towards the end, one knows what happened and so there is a sort of anticlimax, there is no big bang before the finale, ... no final explanation. I'm convinced that this is on purpose to keep track with the emptiness of life as described before.
Some of the more beautiful pieces are when he talks about literature, as the only thing that can save the world. Does the author sees a role for him there?
Was the purpose to shock with this book? The killing shocks, the rest ...? I doubt it, i also think sometimes that half of the world's population are stupid people, like one of the characters, not filling in their life with enough quality and sense.
But hey, probably half of the world thinks that of me as well :) And i don't go and kill someone or let myself be killed ...
Why this book won such a big prize, stays a mystery for me. It's not bad, but for me, in my humble opinion, not that great.

Well in your defense, the bell curve backs you up.

@ mkboylan: yep, nice one.

14: De bedelaar en andere verhalen by Fernando Pessoa, a collection of unfinished short stories, starters of novels or meant to be stories or just ideas? Nobody knows. Found in a kind of cabin suitcase when the author already passed away.
Impossible to describe, hence no real review, archaic and, as already said, sometimes incomplete.
But does this effect the reading pleasure? The answer is quite simple: no, it does not. Some stories, like The Pilgrim, are a pleasure to read and one can only imagine what a brilliant novel it would have been if it ever got so far. Other stories contain phrases that make you think, or me at least, for a few minutes, before continuing to read further.
A tip for everyone who can enjoy reading just for the beauty of what has been written down.

and just whilst typing this, some very sad news: in our little country (Belgium) with already as good as no independant bookshops, 5 of them went bankrupt last week.
A sad week for every booklover. :(

40 - Interesting, and I love your last paragraph.

So sorry about the bookstores. So sad.

Thanks mkboylan !
I read your comments on Round House by Louise Erdrich some time ago and i found it very interesting. I did read The plague of doves by her and i found it an amazing story and very well written. Did you like it?
Sadly, Round House is not translated into dutch yet.

hmmm I tried to type sorry and typed sorrily, I haven't read The Plague of Doves. I kind of like my new word tho.

And finally, number 15: De geheime schrift by Sebastian Barry .... Typing this for the second time on my ipad, switching screens is apparently not a good idea on this new LT design, i'll report it.
It is a very well written novel, unfolding slowly as you read on.
The story is about an elderly woman and her psychiatrist, told from both their viewpoints, and with their own lives on the background. The psychiatrist is confronted with the rehousing of all of his patients and starts to wonder if the older woman is just there because of the troubled times before in Ireland, or because she really is mentally not fit.
Set against a scenic moral history, combined with religion, violence, the "troubles", the family relations, being declared mentally ill because you just didn't fit the picture, ... In some words: a very rich story.
Barry is truly an artisan, the switching between the protagonists, the celtic give-aways, of which sadly a lot is lost in translation (into Dutch), making it necessary to "rewind" sometimes in the book, are well hidden, or just well enough to keep it a bit of a secret scripture.
The time lapsing, the psychiatric bemusings on what kind of tricks our memory plays with us (one of my personal intrests) are just great.
On the downside for me, the story itself didn't catch me enough to make me read more vigorously, hence the long period it took me.
That this book lost to win the Booker prize from White tiger is unacceptable, it's ten times better.
What am i saying? A hundred times!

Good review of The Secret Scripture

OOOH I think I need to read that. I think so many people with post-traumatic stress are misdiagnosed with other problems and it drives me crazy. I have found that a lot of children with PTSD are misdiagnosed with hyperactivity of one form or another. oh enough of a rant. Your excellent review has me going. Think I'll check that one out.

To Baswood and mkboylan: glad to help and thanks a lot for your encouragements. :)

16: Driemaal bij dageraad by Alessandro Baricco, a very short novel this time, a kind of additional bemusings on Mr. Gwyn but by far not so good imho.
Reading Baricco is always a bit dreaming with your eyes wide open but here the dreams are a bit short.
Three encounters between a man and a woman, everytime different but every time in a hotel ... surprising little stories with strange ends, and even stranger turns halfways but still ... just little stories, the magical illuminating fairy, with whom Baricco has a lifetime contract, just doesn't shows herself this time.
A pity, that is.
Looking forward to the next Baricco book.

ahhh tree encounters! I think Polaris might like that one! :)

Dear mkboylan, thanks for noticing the typo :)

17:Sicilië - not much to say about this one, it's a travel guide. A nicely worked out one if you want to do some cities and monuments.
This will be a different holiday for us, no trekking, way too hot in Sicily for that.
I will rate the book on my return, since the proof of the pudding is in the eating. :)

Hmm, a vacation in Sicily right now. Will it be one for laying quietly in a darkened hotel room? When do you go?

Hello Ridgewaygirl,
yes, it's this holidayperiod that we're going, looking forward to it. I hope that a shaded terrace will offer more comfort :)

18: Nultijd by Juli Zeh, fascinating novel as usual from Zeh. A little bit more predictable then Vrije val which stays her best novel for me.
Psychology, thriller effects, turns and twists in the relations of the main characters, like an onion being peeled one gets to see layer after layer of every protagonist in this shorter novel.
It looks like the author wanted to show her readers that she can write more condensed, shorter phrased, more direct. The readability increases together with the intensity. In my humble opinion this makes it a more open story where one can more easily guess what will come up next.
The story itself is a classic theme, bored couple takes holidays and no, not a ski teacher, but a diving instructor who doesn't want any involvement with his clients makes the triangle complete.
Oh no you're thinking right now, but ... that's all for the classical part, no worries!
From there on, it goes in a wild rush to judgements on relations, the rat racing society, the educational system, the prestige kind of friendships, .... In short everyday competitive life and ... that sums up everything from what the diving instructor wanted to get away, or wait a second, did he really want that?
Tanglefooted nearly every chapter, or even every page, in no time you're sucked in till you finish the book.
Why not five stars then?
Well, the underlying philosophical themes normally well present in Zeh's books seem to have taken a day off. Yes, there is this criticism on society and of course the lifestyle of the diving instructor is reflecting on capitalism and social values. But in other novels, the philosophy is an active part of the book, another protagonist if you want. Not in this one.
So, four stars it is.
Highly recommendable for those who want to start reading Juli Zeh.

Hi everybody,

my apologies for not commenting anymore every book i read. I had to choose between restarting reading (after a long "dry" period) or writing about it. Or reading other comments.
For a book competition in Flanders, my home region in Belgium, i was however asked to review a book by a Flemish author, Stefan Hertmans.

In the next message, i will publish my review, written in Dutch.
When i find the time, i will translate it in English.

Beware: when this book would be translated into English, you really should read it. Really. It's a gem. Five stars. No doubt.

Thanks for your understanding.

Oorlog en Terpentijn by Stefan Hertmans

Aangrijpend. Als een boek al ooit samengevat kon worden in één woord, als “Oorlog en Terpentijn” al kan beschreven worden, als het erin verhaalde mensenleven kan beschreven worden, dan is het met dit ene woord: aangrijpend.

Ik heb dit boek gekocht door de hype. Ik had nog nooit iets gelezen van Hertmans. Meestal volgt dan ontgoocheling omdat ik de hype niet begrijp, omdat ik de fouten zie of omdat het bij mij “niet pakt”.

Nu volgt echter verdwazing. Verdwazing omdat ik niet begrijp waarom ik nog nooit iets gelezen heb van Hertmans. Als een schrijver tot dergelijke kunst in staat is, wat heb ik dan allemaal al gemist. En Vlaanderen, en bij uitbreiding het stukje Nederlandstalige aardkloot, is al niet top in het blijven uitgeven van oudere werken. Ik zal dus al veel gemist hebben. Ai.

In Oorlog en Terpentijn wordt een leven beschreven, het eenvoudige maar moedige leven van de grootvader van de auteur.

De oorlog komt echter en alle gelukkige momenten, samen met de wereld in bloei, lijken in het niets te verdwijnen bij geweld, wreedheid en ellende die vanaf dan de wereld én de geesten overnemen.

Daarna meandert het leven terug rustig verder. Zo lijkt het toch. Of niet?

De drie delen van het boek symboliseren verschillende overgangen: voor het hoofdpersonage én voor de mensheid. Deze overgangen zijn soms heel zichtbaar: jeugd, oorlog, volwassene; of nog: geluk, gruwel, verdriet; maar zijn soms ook veel subtieler, veel diepgravender.

En dan zwijgen we nog van de derde dimensie in het boek, de transities bij de auteur tijdens de research en het schrijven van dit boek.

De jeugd

Het eerste deel is een ingetogen karakterschets van de gewone man en zijn familie einde 19e en begin 20e eeuw. Hertmans illustreert met een rijk en verouderd taalgebruik het harde leven, met hartverscheurende taferelen maar ook met een lach, anekdotes en flash forwards naar de eigen ervaringen.

Onze hoofdfiguur groeit op in relatieve armoede maar ook vrij gelukkig. Vader is kunstenaar, moeder “bereddert” het huishouden, om toch ook eens een term uit die tijd te gebruiken. De tijden worden moeilijker wanneer de vader sterft en de jonge hoofdfiguur een grotere verantwoordelijkheid krijgt. Maar samen trekt de familie zich uit de miserie.

De auteur schuwt de belletrie niet en brengt de lezer in vervoering met lyrische beschrijvingen, homerische odes aan de eenvoudige broodkunstenaar, de arbeider die de kost verdient en de discipline en karakter die nodig waren om een aantal koters op te voeden in tijden die ook toen al uitwegen boden in drank en luiheid.

De oorlog

Deel 2 is een oorlogsverslag en Hertmans neemt de dagboeken van zijn grootvader over. Het is het meest rechttoe rechtaan stuk in het boek maar het bezorgt je als lezer wel een zeer wrang gevoel. De gruwel druipt van de bladzijden, de zinloze doden, de gekmakende dreiging, het onbegrip tussen de Vlaamse soldaten en de Franstalige officieren.

Wat mij het meeste bij zal blijven is de vernedering: je bent niets, je bent niets waard, je kameraad is ook niets, een leven is niets. En als je iets bent of kan worden dan nemen we je dat af, dan bedriegen we je. Zomaar, omdat je niets bent.

In een andere recensie, van Dirk Verhofstadt, lees ik dat dit niet het belangrijkste is. Dat het meer over de teloorgang van de menselijkheid gaat. Ik begrijp zijn visie omdat Flamingantisch nationalisme hier aan de einder komt kijken en we weten allemaal hoe liberalen in deze tijden zich hier van distantiëren, in tegenstelling tot pakweg 10 – 15 jaar geleden.

Naar mijn niet zo bescheiden mening is het persoonlijke toch belangrijker. Het gehele verhaal is opgebouwd rond, het is zelfs gewijd aan de hoofdfiguur. Hij is de geschiedenis, hij is het verhaal. En in de ogen van zijn officieren is hij niets.

Na de oorlog

Alsof “Den Grooten Oorlog” nog niet genoeg miserie veroorzaakt heeft vat in deel 3 het ongeluk een nog persoonlijkere strooptocht aan op de geestelijke gezondheid van ons hoofdpersonage. Wie hier niet de krop in de keel krijgt mag gerust als onderkoeld omschreven worden wat mij betreft.

Maar geleidelijk aan komen we in een genormaliseerde situatie en vervagen de emoties. De vraag die hier aan de oppervlakte komt is of deze toestand wenselijk is. Is dit dan het ware, vredevolle leven? Is dit het beste wat mogelijk is?

Het verhaal wordt dan meer verklarend: hoe is het zover kunnen komen, wat zijn de verbanden tussen de kunstbeoefening van het hoofdpersonage en de beslissingen in zijn leven? Waarom zijn bepaalde werken van zijn hand zo ogenschijnlijk oppervlakkige kopieën?

Groote kunst

Wat mij betreft heeft Hertmans “groote” kunst opgeleverd en is het thema van Den Grooten Oorlog maar een alibi. Het verhaal van de grootvader is zo persoonlijk, zo resonant in het dagelijks leven van de auteur, zo herkenbaar voor velen, dat het moest verteld worden.

De gelaagdheid van het boek zorgt dat je als lezer een uitdaging krijgt, dat je je de vraag meermaals stelt: welk verhaal ben ik aan het lezen? Over het hoofdpersonage of over de auteur? Of toch over ons, de maatschappij? Of over mij?
Want wat doe ik hier? Wat beteken ik?

Hertmans schept een sfeer met oude woorden, koket tonen hoeveel schilderstermen hij wel kent, details over schermtechnieken en vogelgezang, waardoor je als lezer “in” het boek gezogen wordt. Je blijft veel te laat op, je vraagt je voortdurend af hoe een mens zich staande kan houden onder al deze tegenslagen en ja, bij mij greep het soms naar de keel, met tranen bij mijmeringen over klein zijn in de grote wereld, over niet begrijpen waarom maar het verdriet wel voelen.

Als Stefan Hertmans met dit boek geen grote literaire prijzen wint, dan mag men die prijzen gewoon afschaffen. Want Oorlog en Terpentijn is met “groote” voorsprong het beste boek dat ik dit jaar las.

Lunarreader
20 november 2013

Mijn dochter is 20 jaar geworden vandaag.

Gelukkig :-) (besteld bij Davidsfonds ;-) )

Thanks for your review. It made me rush to the bookshop and I read it yesterday. I cannot but agree with you wholeheartedly. It's a gem, a rare masterpiece and I loved it. So thank you very much for pointing it out to me.

to JustJoey4
you're welcome! My pleasure.