The Discomfort of Evening
by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Date: November 18th, 2023
Reviewed by: Tim Dircken
tic Rating: 3.1/5 stars
Tuesday 19th of December 2023 might go down in history as a sad rainy day, but hereby there will be a mention about the brave people that travelled all the way from Tilburg to the tiny village of Alphen to discuss The Discomfort of Evening written by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. While we choose this book from the options of Dutch literature masterpieces, this contemporary award-winning novel divided opinions amongst the book club members.
The group got into a good discussion about the book after a short explanation of the Finnish delicacies on the table. The Discomfort of Evening is a story about a strongly religious farm family that loses one of the children due to an unfortunate accident. The storyline already created mixed feelings within our discussion group, ranging from mildly to strongly disturbed as we read on.
The neglect of the kids by the parents, the intense thoughts of the main character Jas, and the sexual tension made the book into a rather dark and sad story. The general consensus within the group was that this book will not be everyone’s cup of tea.
The writing style was appreciated by most due to the richness of descriptions and sharpness of observation. The thoughts of the young main character Jas (11/12 years old) are written down in an almost poetic way with lots of metaphors. This writing style lightened up the story although dark ruminations remained the main theme. Our book club recommends this piece only for the brave, and focuses on lighter stories for next time!
