#lisahalliday #asymmetry

I‘d hate to miss my #Granta

Starts of smoothly and expertly, but sort of turns into a broken car by page 100 ...

Not a very good book.

A moving novel about a young woman‘s refusal to be ‘just a mother‘, describing with intimate detail the separation between the woman and her (somewhat obnoxious) husband.

Starts of as a memoir of a young woman getting involved with the wrong people - Bonnie and Clyde in The Hague sort of - turns into a somewhat chaotic (and rather unbalanced and unconvincing) soulsearching whilst trying to come to grips with the craving for violence.

A beautifully balanced and serene novel set in the stillness of rural Groningen

A collection of previously published essays and articles on the last poets, music and racial issues. Could almost be read as a soundtrack to her novel The Last Poets and other works. Well worth your time.

Short stories amounting to little more than a set-up. Just not enough ...

It‘s a pleasant read a times, but it felt a bit cramped. For all the detail Abelsen is giving it really should‘ve been thicker. Amsterdam in the 80s 90s 00s, the world of medicine, the music, drugs, underground scene, philosophy, the internet, the love interests, the Indonesian trip, ... Abelsen keeps adding it up, but maybe neglects the backbone. All the same, a debut that deserves some praise.

Dove in to this debut with rather low expectations, but ultimately found it to be a rather moving and original tale of a daughter trying to get in touch with her institutionalized father.

A gripping and rustic tale of a remembered love affair. It‘s a bit theatrical, conversations don‘t flow naturally - but at the same time this serves the somewhat hypnotizing narrative, reminiscent even of Rachel Cusks Outline-trilogy.

A pretentious novella claiming to tell the story of a young refugee, but doing it in a very annoying, superficial and almost patronizing manner ...

A tale of crime and punishment that makes very little effort to make the reader forget that it‘s all just make-believe

Not. Good. Enough.

A bit surreal, but touches of class

An interesting but slow read, more questions than answers and the answers given probably not the ones we hoped to hear

While all the material is there, there‘s no pull into the story - so i bailed

Fight Club without the ingredients that made Fight Club iconic

A strange, but mesmerizing book. Hard not to overanalyse it.

An intriguing book, to be revisited ...

Life is what happens to you when you‘re busy making other plans. Or maybe it‘s the other way around ... not that it matters ... a fine debut.

One of the biggest Belgian writers today, but his latest novel - supposedly more about fear and paranoia than about terrorism - didn‘t captivate me on any level.

A melancholic trip down memory lane following the death of a father, as unnerving for the main character as it is for the reader, nicely done

While all the ingredients are there, the composition boils down to a rather naive who-dunnit. It‘s a standard: most of the notes, no soul.

A collection of stories that fail to convince or intrigue, but hey: the cover‘s great ...

Annual publication to raise awareness for mental illnesses. Not much depth.

Awesome cover, but a very one-sided and even pathetic lovestory

Strong and mesmerizing book showing Theunissen at the top of his game.

A surprising collection of fable-like stories. Somewhat repetitive at times, but overall very enjoyable.

Historical novel set in a medieval spain brewing with powerstruggles between christian and islamic kings, popes, emirs, knights, priests and a few all too calculating women. Bulnes does a wonderful job juggling all the names and differing intentions and motivations, but the novel never really drives forward or comes to live. While there‘s plenty of detail and a lot of poetry, it lacks somewhat in creating a convincing scenery.

You can almost feel how Vekeman settles for less ...

A book filled with madness, bitterness and paranoia, initially failing to captivate but coming through in the end.

Somebody somewhere should have said ‘this is simply not good enough to give away for free‘ #spannendeboekenweken2018

It‘s a bit of everything - reve, giphart, wolkers, salinger, kluun, brusselmans ... - but none of it really hits the mark. All the same, not as bad as some critics would make you believe.

Started skipping sentences in the first chapter, decided life‘s too short as it is by the time I reached page 50

A remarkable book recounting the relationship between a man diagnosed with parkinson and his mistress, reminded me of Rachel Cusk, but also of Gustaaf Peek, Nicola Barker and even Roberto Bolano

Rogiers is improving with every book. His earlier works were a bit plain, but with Angel he shows ambition as well as skill.

(Overly) Ambitious on some levels & pitching some awkward questions but not really going beyond that.

A novel about faith and friendship, sin and loneliness - wonderfully done

Though marketed as a thriller, with its absolute lack of suspense you can hardly call it that ...

A collection of previously published articles following the footsteps of Sebald, Joseph Roth, Bulgakov and others.

On some levels the best Flemish author of the hour, though his infatuation with myths asks a lot of the reader. There‘s beauty and sadness in this book, and a lot of the sadness is of course beautiful.

A fine and promising debut

Extremely short stories with an often absurd or tragicomic twist. It‘s not all good - some is even a bit lame - but I‘m glad not to have missed it.

Funny and thoughtprovoking

A classic, some even say a masterpiece, but I found it rather slow and repetitive. & So I bailed ...

A fantastic title, but the story in itself was a letdown.

A classic Kelman with a tragic hero. Not as balanced as some of his later works, but fireworks nonetheless.

#Granta‘s always an interesting read