Gerard Reve was a Dutch author whose work is considered pivotal to post-World War II Dutch literature. His writing is characterized by a piercing observation of human existence, often focusing on the darker aspects of life and the search for meaning in ordinary situations. Reve masterfully interweaves reality with imagination, creating a unique atmosphere that draws readers into the depths of the human psyche. His literary style is distinctive and ironic, frequently employing subtle humor to reveal deeper truths about society and the individual.
From the author of the hit The Evenings - two classic novellas that are considered among Gerard Reve's best work There will be a club. Important messages have been sent already. If anybody wants to ruin it, he will be punished. Eleven-year-old Elmer inhabits a childhood of superstition, private lore and secret societies that only certain friends can join (and of which he is always president). When a new boy, pale, spindly Werther, arrives in the neighbourhood, a subtle game of fascination and persecution begins. In wartime Amsterdam, a young boy watches as Germans occupy the city. At first his parents' friends, the Boslowits family, think they have little to fear. Then, slowly, terribly, their fate is sealed. In these two haunting novellas from the acclaimed author of The Evenings, the world of childhood, in all its magic and strangeness, darkness and cruelty, is evoked with piercing wit and dreamlike intensity. Here, the things seen through a child's eyes are far from innocent.
IPPY Literary Fiction Award Bronze Medalist An Observer, Financial Times, and
Irish Times Book of the Year Exceptional... a crisp and readable translation
by Sam Garrett. - The Wall Street Journal Fascinating, hilarious, and page-
turning. The publication of this novel marks the exciting introduction of a
wonderful writer to an Anglophone audience. - Publishers Weekly Reviewers have
compared it favorably to J .D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Albert
Camus's The Stranger and Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle. In The Irish
Times, Eileen Battersby called it 'one of the finest studies of youthful
malaise ever written,' and in The Guardian, Tim Parks described it as 'not
only a masterpiece but a cornerstone manqué of modern European literature.'
The Society of Dutch Literature ranked it as the country's best 20th-century
novel and its third-best of all time. - The New York Times Diabolically
funny... From the deep midnight of shattered Europe, Reve crafted not only an
existential masterwork worthy to stand with Beckett or Albert Camus but an
oblique historical testament. - The Economist A novel as funny as it is
painful . . . A little masterpiece - a provocative reminder that life goes on
even in the bleakest of circumstances. - Los Angeles Review of Books
Captivating. - The Atlantic In this first English translation of a Dutch
classic . . . The author's dry wit and ability to find humor and beauty in the
banality of daily life are impressive.- Booklist Not only a masterpiece but a
cornerstone manque of modern European literature... what can I say, in a world
of hype, that will put this book where it belongs, in readers' hands and
minds?... Reve's sparkling collage of acute observation, droll internal
monologue and pitch-perfect dialogue keeps the reader breathless right through
to the grand finale...huge respect to Pushkin Press. - Tim Parks, The Guardian
One of the greatest post-war Dutch novels... [a] brilliant modern classic. -
Tom Chalmers, Publishers Weekly Consistently simple, straightforward, pitch-
perfect prose (translated splendidly by Sam Garrett). - Weekly Standard a
neurotic, darkly humorous and cynical treatise on youth in the Netherlands
after World War II. . . the book is innovative in its use of language. Reve
successfully evokes a strong sense of psychological unrest in the mind of
reader. - Out and About Nashville drily amusing, suffused with angst and post-
war malaise and -- at first blush -- very impressive. - BookFilter It's a
testament to Reve's writing and imagination that the question of Frits will
haunt the reader long after they're finished. - Pop Matters A classic of dry,
dark humour... it captures a very specific flavour of ennui. - Herald I warmly
recommend Gerard Reve's hilariously gloomy The Evenings... I see it as a Dutch
version of Kafka's Metamorphosis. - Observer A Meursault-in-waiting, a blank
Holden Caulfield, a precursor to the kid in Iain Bank's The Wasp Factory. Very
good. - Evening Standard As a study of aimlessness in postwar Europe it is
difficult, perhaps impossible to surpass. - Irish Times This much lauded book,
finally available in English, [is] the perfect January read. - The Spectator
The novel is dark, funny, unsettling and lingers vividly in the mind. Hats off
to Pushkin Press and the outstanding translator, Sam Garrett, for making this
odd, orphaned masterpiece available at last to an English-speaking readership.
- Times Literary Supplement The Evenings is packed with the minutiae of life:
luckily, the minutiae are fascinating...Reve isn't the kind of novelist to
give you a straightforward answer but the journey is quite a ride. - The Times
Reve's keen eye for absurdity manages to cast the mundane in a new, albeit
macabre, light. - Financial Times This 1947 Dutch novel, considered the
Netherlands' greatest in the twentieth century and now published in English
for the
