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The Discomfort of the Evening
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
9 posts | 7 read | 9 to read
I thought about being too small for so much, but that no one told you when you were big enough, how many centimetres on the doorpost that was, and I asked God if he please couldn't take my brother Matthies instead of my rabbit. 'Amen.' Ten year old Jas lives with her devout family in the rural Netherlands. The Bible is the most important thing in their lives. One winter's day, Jas's older brother Matthies joins an ice skating trip near the farm; resentful at being left alone, she makes a perverse plea to God; and he never returns. As grief ripples through the family, warping everyday life in strange ways that threaten to derail them all, Jas retreats into disturbing fantasies. Guilty and agonised, she watches as the family disintegrates around her into ever-increasing darkness. Studded with astonishing poetic images - violent, raw and surreal - The Discomfort of the Evening lays everything bare with magnetic intensity. It is a reading experience unlike any other.
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IuliaC
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Pickpick

Oh my, this is a jarring, hard one, although not much happens. Metaphors are magnificently achieved through an incredibly original use of terrifying, disgusting sensory and visual details.

Jas lives with her siblings at an animal farm in a very religious family. She's 10 when a terrible accident occurs, her parents' relationship deteriorates and the children try to process and understand death on their own, which leads to tragic consequences.

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naeyma
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Mehso-so

Nope

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TheEllieMo
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Mehso-so

The second book recently where the biggest emotion I‘ve felt is an overwhelming sense of relief when I‘ve reached the end.

There are some moments of brilliance in this book, but, for me, it‘s tarnished with the undertones of sexual abuse, animal abuse, bestiality and incest, which I didn‘t feel sat comfortably in a story intrinsically about grief. It‘s a tough read and maybe I‘m not in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate its aims.

veritysalter After seeing a couple of reviews for this, I‘m now pleased I didn‘t get approved 😂 5y
TheEllieMo @veritysalter it‘s an odd one. In places it is a truly beautiful read, many quotable passages, touching, funny, insightful; but then there are other some sections that grossed me out completely. As a piece of writing, looking at it objectively, it‘s good, but subjectively, no, it‘s not for me. 5y
37 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Emilymdxn
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Mehso-so

#bookerinternational2020

I wouldn‘t be sad or angry if it made the shortlist, but it wasn‘t totally to my taste. I loved the psychological insight, the different approaches to grief, the picture of how they lived. I feel sort of silly saying this but a lot of it was just... icky. It‘s kinda a bad reason to take against a book but I just don‘t connect with books with such icky content, it takes me out of getting sucked in and I just can‘t 🤷‍♀️

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Moray_Reads
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Moray_Reads
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Moray_Reads
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Loving this so far.

LeahBergen Aww! 😆 5y
30 likes1 comment
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Moray_Reads
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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Suet624 Sounds depressing enough for me to enjoy. 😃 5y
29 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
andrew61
The Discomfort of the Evening | Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
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https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/23/best-new-translated-books-fiction?...

I just noticed this thread of best translated fiction out or due out. I know lots of you enjoy reading translated work and the tagged book out next year in English is one i will definitely trying to find.
Some of the others look great. I'll be searching the library catalogue for the books and authors.

Anna40 HA! I just bought Pain by Zeruya Shalev. I read all her other books at different stages of my life, so she's a very special author to me. Am glad to see her new book on this list 😉 there are many others that sound interesting too! 5y
batsy Super interesting list! Thanks for sharing. 5y
squirrelbrain Thanks for this Andrew - added 3 to my list for #readingeurope2020. They‘re all a bit expensive at the moment, but hopefully the library might get them in... 🤞😁 5y
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andrew61 @Anna40 yes i noticed The remains of love is in the library, i will definitely read it in 2020 given your recommendation ☺ 5y
andrew61 @squirrelbrain yes i couldn't find any in my library but @Anna40 recommended Zeruya shalev and I found one of her earlier books so plan to get to it in 2020 ☺ 5y
Moray_Reads I've just started the Discomfort of Evening today! 5y
andrew61 @Moray_Reads id forgotten about this post! Ill have to see if any are the library, i think i couldn't find any when i posted. I will definitely try and read this one.☺ 5y
jhod Available on netgalley now! 5y
32 likes1 stack add9 comments