Given my many visits to the Netherlands, you’d think I might have read lots of Dutch fiction but I haven’t come across much in translation. The little I have read I’ve enjoyed, particularly the five listed below, all with links to reviews on my blog.
I’m a sucker for novels about long term relationships, the complicated kind rather than the straightforward happy ones although they, too, have their turbulent moments. Marijke Schermer’s Love, If That’s What ItIs is the story of the breakdown of Terri and David’s twenty-five-year marriage, told from the perspectives of themselves, their lovers and their children over the course of a year. Schermer shifts seamlessly from character to character revealing misunderstandings, hurt, puzzlement and occasional moments of happiness in this immersive, absorbing piece of fiction. Writing with empathy and compassion, she’s unafraid to let her characters seem unsympathetic. A quietly powerful novel, expertly translated by Hester Velmans.
Esther Gerritsen’s Craving is a darkly comic novel about death and family life. As Elisabeth walks to the pharmacy to pick up
her morphine she spots her daughter across the street and wonders whether to tell Coco she’s dying. They haven’t seen each other for a while, and it may be a little awkward – not quite the moment – but heeding her doctor’s exhortations she hails Coco and after a desultory exchange blurts it out. Coco is only a little nonplussed, cycling off strangely pleased with the drama of her news and how important it makes her feel while Elsabeth carries on. This exchange sets the tone for Gerritsen’s unsettling, powerful novel. No one manages to connect with anyone else in this fractured family – Elisabeth’s most satisfying relationship is with her boss. Not an easy read but a striking one handled with great skill, not least by its translator, Michele Hutchison.
Gerbrand Bakker’s June is set largely on a Saturday in a small Dutch village but at its centre is Queen Julianna’s visit on June 17th, 1969 nearly forty years before, a day of celebration which turned into tragedy shortly after a young woman dashes over to the departing monarch, clutching her two-year-old daughter. The Queen greets her, lightly touching the child’s cheek. Later that day an accident will leave the little girl’s family bereft. The rest of Bakker’s novel follows another sweltering June day, beginning with the two-year-old’s mother – now a grandmother – who has regularly taken herself off to the straw loft on the rundown family farm since 1969, ignoring all attempts to talk her down. Beautifully translated by David Colmer, Bakker’s writing is clean and plain but richly evocative with a quiet humour running through the heartache.
First published in Holland in 1947, Gerard Reve’s bleak, darkly funny The Evenings
spans ten days over the Christmas period until New Year’s Eve, 1946, following Frits, a twenty-three-year-old in the grips of soul-crushing boredom. His days are occupied by a mundane office job, his evenings by attempts to stave off a consuming lassitude. He calls on his friends, gets blind drunk, is casually insulting then chides himself for it, inspects parts of his body minutely, spins stories – some dark, some ridiculous – and sleeps when all else fails, falling into nightmarish dreams. Reve’s skill lies in the humour, underpinned with pathos, with which Frits’s chronic restlessness is portrayed. There are a few glimmers of self-knowledge: listening to tales of his parents’ generosity during the war Frits is shamed by his resentment of it but he’s soon back to disparaging them. The book ends on New Year’s Eve. Frits’s vain search for friends to celebrate with after a joyless meal with his parents sets the mood for the following year which looks likely to be not so very different from the one that came before.
Freetown, Otto de Kat’s beautiful, contemplative novella, explores the lives and memories of Maria and Vince, once lovers, brought back together by the disappearance of Ishmaël, a young Sierra Leonean refugee whom Maria had helped after he lost his job. A year later, Maria still feels bereft, turning to Vince, not seen for nearly a decade, the only person she feels might be able to help her come to terms with this loss whose effects she doesn’t entirely understand. Vince agrees to a meeting, listening to her story while flooded with memories of their affair. The complicated relationship we have with memory and our pasts haunts this novel as de Kat slowly reveals what Maria and Vince have been to each other against a background of losses suffered by Ishmaël and his country. Elegantly translated by Laura Watkinson, de Kat’s writing is beautifully observed, stripped of any unnecessary adornment and all the better for it.
Any Dutch novels you’d recommend?
If you’d like to explore more posts like this, you can find them here.
As far as Dutch novels go, I can only recall Simone van der Vlught’s Midnight Blue, and Yael van der Wouden’s Safe Keep. And here, you seem to have quite a few tempting offerings. I wouldn’t turn any of these down, I think.
Despite having spent a lot of time in the Netherlands over many years I’m slightly ashamed to say I’ve never read a Dutch novel. So many thanks for this.
Well, you may feel you’ve not read many Dutch novels, but your five is five more than I’ve read! June sounds interesting, especially with that touch of humour you mention to stop it from becoming too bleak.
I loved the evocative atmospheric writing of Gerbrand Bakker’s ‘The Twin’ – he captures both the mood of the strange flat landscape and the complicated emotions of the protangists so convincingly.
Tommy Wieringa is a young author whose ‘The Death of Murat Idrissi’ rings true from start to finish. A sad story that contrasts the divide between the developed Europe and the aspirations and customs of Morocco.
Harry Mulisch’s ‘The Assault’ is an illuminating insight into the Nazi occupation and the decisions that ordinary citizens under extreme psychological pressure.
I enjoyed Bakker’s The Twin too. I’d recommend Dimitri Verhulst, whose Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill was excellent, and the hilarious The Latecomer. Peter Terrin too for Monte Carlo, which was so evocative, I’d like to read more by him. Herman Koch’s The Dinner made a great Book Group discussion!
I’d forgtotten Terrin was Dutch – I loved that one, too, and I remember lots to talk about in The Dinner. Thanks for the other two recommendations, Annabel.
I haven’t read any of these but The Evenings appeals. This year I read The Dinner by Herman Koch (loved it) and We Had to Remove This Post by Hannah Bervoets (so-so)
As far as Dutch novels go, I can only recall Simone van der Vlught’s Midnight Blue, and Yael van der Wouden’s Safe Keep. And here, you seem to have quite a few tempting offerings. I wouldn’t turn any of these down, I think.
Midnight Blue’s new to me. Thanks for that!
I seem to remember enjoying it. A while back now though.
Despite having spent a lot of time in the Netherlands over many years I’m slightly ashamed to say I’ve never read a Dutch novel. So many thanks for this.
You’re welcome! I had wondered if some Dutch authors write in English, given how well many speak it.
Well, you may feel you’ve not read many Dutch novels, but your five is five more than I’ve read! June sounds interesting, especially with that touch of humour you mention to stop it from becoming too bleak.
Ha! I’d recommend June. Wonderfully evocative writing. I must read more by him.
I loved the evocative atmospheric writing of Gerbrand Bakker’s ‘The Twin’ – he captures both the mood of the strange flat landscape and the complicated emotions of the protangists so convincingly.
Tommy Wieringa is a young author whose ‘The Death of Murat Idrissi’ rings true from start to finish. A sad story that contrasts the divide between the developed Europe and the aspirations and customs of Morocco.
Harry Mulisch’s ‘The Assault’ is an illuminating insight into the Nazi occupation and the decisions that ordinary citizens under extreme psychological pressure.
Adding all three of these to my list. Thanks so much!
I’ve enjoyed the novellas by Jente Posthuma – What I’d Rather Not Think About and People With No Charisma (review to come).
Thank, Kate. I’ll look out for that.
Interesting selection. Only recent Dutch book I have read and loved has been The Safekeep. I suppose The Dutch House by Ann Patchett doesn’t count!?
Ha! I think I’ll have to disallow that one although I did enjoy it.
I enjoyed Bakker’s The Twin too. I’d recommend Dimitri Verhulst, whose Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill was excellent, and the hilarious The Latecomer. Peter Terrin too for Monte Carlo, which was so evocative, I’d like to read more by him. Herman Koch’s The Dinner made a great Book Group discussion!
I’d forgtotten Terrin was Dutch – I loved that one, too, and I remember lots to talk about in The Dinner. Thanks for the other two recommendations, Annabel.
I haven’t read any of these but The Evenings appeals. This year I read The Dinner by Herman Koch (loved it) and We Had to Remove This Post by Hannah Bervoets (so-so)
I toyed with reading the Bervoets but it sounds missable. The Evenings is a perennial favourite with the Dutch, apparently. Frits is exasperating!