The Discomfort of Evening A Novel
WINNER OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
A stark and gripping tale of childhood grief from one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature
Ten-year-old Jas lives with her strictly religious parents and her siblings on a dairy farm where waste and frivolity are akin to sin. Despite the dreary routine of their days, Jas has a unique way of experiencing her world: her face soft like cheese under her motherās hands; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads in the village; the sound of āblush wordsā that arenāt in the Bible.
One icy morning, the disciplined rhythm of her familyās life is ruptured by a tragic accident, and Jas is convinced she is to blame. As her parentsā suffering makes them increasingly distant, Jas and her siblings develop a curiosity about death that leads them into disturbing rituals and fantasies. Cocooned in her red winter coat, Jas dreams of āthe other sideā and of salvation, not knowing where this dreaming will finally lead her.
A bestseller in the Netherlands, Lucas Rijneveldās radical debut novel The Discomfort of Evening offers readers a rare vision of rural and religious life in the Netherlands. In it, he asks: In the absence of comfort and care, what can the mind of a child invent to protect itself? And what happens when that is not enough? With stunning psychological acuity and images of haunting, violent beauty, Rijneveld has created a captivating world of language unlike any other.
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WINNER OF THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
A stark and gripping tale of childhood grief from one of the most exciting new voices in Dutch literature
Ten-year-old Jas lives with her strictly religious parents and her siblings on a dairy farm where waste and frivolity are akin to sin. Despite the dreary routine of their days, Jas has a unique way of experiencing her world: her face soft like cheese under her motherās hands; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads in the village; the sound of āblush wordsā that arenāt in the Bible.
One icy morning, the disciplined rhythm of her familyās life is ruptured by a tragic accident, and Jas is convinced she is to blame. As her parentsā suffering makes them increasingly distant, Jas and her siblings develop a curiosity about death that leads them into disturbing rituals and fantasies. Cocooned in her red winter coat, Jas dreams of āthe other sideā and of salvation, not knowing where this dreaming will finally lead her.
A bestseller in the Netherlands, Lucas Rijneveldās radical debut novel The Discomfort of Evening offers readers a rare vision of rural and religious life in the Netherlands. In it, he asks: In the absence of comfort and care, what can the mind of a child invent to protect itself? And what happens when that is not enough? With stunning psychological acuity and images of haunting, violent beauty, Rijneveld has created a captivating world of language unlike any other.
