Specify Books Concering De helaasheid der dingen
| Original Title: | De helaasheid der dingen |
| ISBN: | 9025427731 (ISBN13: 9789025427733) |
| Edition Language: | Dutch |
| Setting: | Reetveerdegem(Belgium) Belgium |
| Literary Awards: | Gouden Uil for Publieksprijs (2007), Humo's Gouden Bladwijzer (2007), AKO / ECI Literatuurprijs Nominee (2006), De Inktaap (2008), Vondel Prize for David Colmer (2013) |
Dimitri Verhulst
Paperback | Pages: 207 pages Rating: 3.78 | 8785 Users | 281 Reviews
Describe Appertaining To Books De helaasheid der dingen
| Title | : | De helaasheid der dingen |
| Author | : | Dimitri Verhulst |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 207 pages |
| Published | : | 2006 by Contact |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Dutch Literature |
Chronicle Conducive To Books De helaasheid der dingen
In De helaasheid der dingen keert de schrijver terug naar zijn geboortegrond in Reetveerdegem. We maken kennis met zijn vader, Pierre, die zijn paar uur oude zoontje in een postzak op zijn fiets langs alle kroegen van het dorp rijdt om hem aan zijn vrienden te tonen; zijn grootmoeder, wier nachtrust al te vaak verstoord wordt door de politie als die weer eens een van haar dronken zonen thuis komt afleveren: en niet te vergeten de werkloze nonkels Potrel, Witten en Zwaren, voor wie een wereldkampioenschap zuipen het hoogst haalbare is en die leven volgens het adagium 'God schiep de dag en wij slepen ons erdoorheen'. De helaasheid der dingen is zowel een gevoelig ode aan als een hilarische afrekening met het dorp van een jeugd.Rating Appertaining To Books De helaasheid der dingen
Ratings: 3.78 From 8785 Users | 281 ReviewsCriticism Appertaining To Books De helaasheid der dingen
Reminds me of Howard Stern at timessometimes he says the most god-awful things. Book had a Strand bookmarker in it. One of my all time fave used bookstores - in New York City. They have ladders! There's a beautiful watercolor painting of the Strand in the New Yorker. Oops...I digress.Red two times and seen the movie, this book has become the basis from where I followed Verhulst as an author.
One of the best books I have ever read. Enjoyable and dark, tragic and so funny. Hilariously real.
An odd, but enjoyable, Dutch novel about growing up in (and growing away from) a family of alcoholics. Several of the early scenes are fantastic, if often grim and queasy in the way liquid self-destruction can't help but appear. Particularly the Roy Orbison TV-watching party and the bicycle race are especially cinematic (and I imagine figure prominently in the film version). The book loses narrative propulsion sometime after the halfway point and the last several chapters feel a bit disconnected
Every third novel nowadays seems to have a dysfunctional family at its core. So indeed does The Misfortunates by Belgian author Dimitri Verhulst. But on second thoughts, I'm not so sure that the family we're concerned with here should be tagged with that particular label. Although they are undoubtedly comfortably installed at the very lowest rung of society and not in any hurry to ascend the ladder any time soon --held back by constant inebriation, sloth and a regrettable tendency to fix
Based on the protagonists sharing the authors full name, and the little information about Verhulst available in English, this short, episodic novel appears to be autobiographical. Somewhat more than half of it focuses on Dimitris boyhood, surrounded by the raging drunks that are his father and three uncles. In these chapters Dimitri himself almost disappears, but one gets the sense of a narrator struggling with the tension between his affection and nostalgia for these incorrigible relatives, and
Life's truly crappy for Dimitri. His mother hates him, so he lives with his dad and uncles at the grandmother's house. Except for his dad, not one of them has a job, and except for his grandmother, all are proud alcoholics. If you're one of the Verhulsts, all innkeepers know you by name, and unfortunately, so do all the police officers and bailiffs. If you're born into this family, your career path becomes fairly obvious when you're about an hour old and your father rides with you to every
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