What do you think?
Rate this book
Dutch
Dark and brooding, dutch is the story of Zak and Daniel, two brothers whose troubled childhood has plunged them into a life of addiction and psychological trauma. Against the advice of their kind therapist, they flee to Hong Kong where they embark upon a drug and alcohol-fueled rampage.
The journey is heart-breaking, shocking and uncomfortably funny, culminating in a bitter-sweet climax that sees the brothers finally come to terms with the horrors that befell their youth.
"Poetic, honest, intense, and brilliantly written" - Readers' Favorite
"An unrelenting narrative thrust makes the beauty and ugliness of what follows intensely engaging" - IndieReader
The journey is heart-breaking, shocking and uncomfortably funny, culminating in a bitter-sweet climax that sees the brothers finally come to terms with the horrors that befell their youth.
"Poetic, honest, intense, and brilliantly written" - Readers' Favorite
"An unrelenting narrative thrust makes the beauty and ugliness of what follows intensely engaging" - IndieReader
120 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2013
6 people are currently reading
548 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 28, 2011
I was just about to give 4 stars to this book until I reached the end of it and I sure have to give 5 stars. At first I was really scared I was not gonna like the book, because Jamie sent it to me, and it would be so awkward to write a review about it if I didn’t enjoy it, but I freaking loved this.
This is a romance of – apparently – two brothers that travel to Hong Kong on this quest, which I couldn’t find the propose (running away from everything? Probably…) and one of them enters a huge spiral of cocaine abuse.
I was totally feeling this brothers’ connection so I instantly empathized with it. Then you have the two sides of the same trauma and how could it affect two people in the same situation so differently – their parents death - . Because Daniel felt the need to care for his brother who was a cocaine addict and he couldn’t do anything to help him out of the situation. And then you have his brother, Zak, a bloody mess because he blamed himself for his brother’s condition and he blamed himself for the death of their parents. And their relationship was all about blame and dysfunctional patterns.
There was some really well thought moments, for example when Daniel paints all mirrors black when his brother attempted suicide after looking at himself in the mirror. Along with all those really well written sentences in poetic English, I mean “Self loading lost souls, hedonistic opportunism” (wow) or “crashes to ashes, trust to dust”. I have to admit I underlined loads of phrases in that book because they were either brilliant or amazingly written.
Just at the very end there is this weird twist to the plot when you think that Zak is just about to die because of his addiction and he suddenly turns out to be Daniel all along. What happened is not explicit but what I got from it is that Daniel couldn’t bare all the loss and suffering with first the death of Zak in the garden house and then his parents death in the car crash and became some sort of schizophrenic and invented this whole new persona to be able to deal with it and not be alone. Fool himself by thinking he saved his brother. And that was why he decided to paint all mirrors and wear black sunglasses. He couldn’t bare to be himself, he had rather be his – still alive – dysfunctional brother when his own self was trying to make things right and try to be in control.
And I must say that someone who writes so deeply about cocaine addiction, in such an intense way, has at least been in close contact with cocaine addicts, and I have been, in some periods of my life, so I know the description of it is actually really accurate.
Yet again thanks so much Jamie
This is a romance of – apparently – two brothers that travel to Hong Kong on this quest, which I couldn’t find the propose (running away from everything? Probably…) and one of them enters a huge spiral of cocaine abuse.
I was totally feeling this brothers’ connection so I instantly empathized with it. Then you have the two sides of the same trauma and how could it affect two people in the same situation so differently – their parents death - . Because Daniel felt the need to care for his brother who was a cocaine addict and he couldn’t do anything to help him out of the situation. And then you have his brother, Zak, a bloody mess because he blamed himself for his brother’s condition and he blamed himself for the death of their parents. And their relationship was all about blame and dysfunctional patterns.
There was some really well thought moments, for example when Daniel paints all mirrors black when his brother attempted suicide after looking at himself in the mirror. Along with all those really well written sentences in poetic English, I mean “Self loading lost souls, hedonistic opportunism” (wow) or “crashes to ashes, trust to dust”. I have to admit I underlined loads of phrases in that book because they were either brilliant or amazingly written.
Just at the very end there is this weird twist to the plot when you think that Zak is just about to die because of his addiction and he suddenly turns out to be Daniel all along. What happened is not explicit but what I got from it is that Daniel couldn’t bare all the loss and suffering with first the death of Zak in the garden house and then his parents death in the car crash and became some sort of schizophrenic and invented this whole new persona to be able to deal with it and not be alone. Fool himself by thinking he saved his brother. And that was why he decided to paint all mirrors and wear black sunglasses. He couldn’t bare to be himself, he had rather be his – still alive – dysfunctional brother when his own self was trying to make things right and try to be in control.
And I must say that someone who writes so deeply about cocaine addiction, in such an intense way, has at least been in close contact with cocaine addicts, and I have been, in some periods of my life, so I know the description of it is actually really accurate.
Yet again thanks so much Jamie
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2013
Once I had finally gotten the time to crack the spine of this book, it was hard to put it back down or leave it to read over the next couple of days like I had planned.
You're pulled into the lives of Zak and Daniel straight away, given an insight of their childhoods through memories, the struggles they have with themselves and their brotherly bond in therapy sessions and how they deal with that. Once you start reading you can't put it down and you feel for Zak, you are connected straight away and can't let go. You have to know how he'll come out of all this, you have to keep reading.
I loved the style that this book has been written as well, reminding me of the style that James Frey writes (who's book I thoroughly enjoyed) and the added poetic side was a nice touch as well. Going between memories and therapy sessions and their childhood memories felt like a new way to connect the stories together and it was just a great way to keep my attention.
I would definitely recommend this book, and actually already did before I've even reached the halfway point of the book. This is definitely one of those books that you read over and over and never get sick of.
You're pulled into the lives of Zak and Daniel straight away, given an insight of their childhoods through memories, the struggles they have with themselves and their brotherly bond in therapy sessions and how they deal with that. Once you start reading you can't put it down and you feel for Zak, you are connected straight away and can't let go. You have to know how he'll come out of all this, you have to keep reading.
I loved the style that this book has been written as well, reminding me of the style that James Frey writes (who's book I thoroughly enjoyed) and the added poetic side was a nice touch as well. Going between memories and therapy sessions and their childhood memories felt like a new way to connect the stories together and it was just a great way to keep my attention.
I would definitely recommend this book, and actually already did before I've even reached the halfway point of the book. This is definitely one of those books that you read over and over and never get sick of.
March 19, 2014
Edit: I'm sorry for sounding so harsh in my review. Next time, I will keep this mind. I did not mean any offence to the author.
Before I start this, I just want to say thanks to the author for sending me a copy.
Now...
What the hell did I just read?
And not in a good way.
I'll be fair, though...I'll discuss the good before I get to bad.
Good:
I liked that it tackled cocaine addiction in an accurate way. I just like books that tackle drug addiction. Full Stop. Hence, why I have an 'addiction' shelf. This was a good aspect of the book.
I kind of liked the sibling relationship.
I kind of liked how it skipped between different times in the MC's life.
It was...short?
Um...I can't think of anything else, which brings me onto the first bad point.
Bad:
It wasn't memorable at all. I literally read it yesterday and I can hardly remember it, which makes it extra difficult to review. I like books that leaving a lasting impression...That have me thinking about them for weeks and from the description, I thought this would be one of those books. But I was disappointed. The story I can remember slightly but I cannot remember any of the characters names.
Hence, characters. The protagonist (whatever his name was?) was a character I couldn't relate to at all. I literally didn't care what he did. He could have jumped off a bridge and I still wouldn't have cared...He was mopey and whiny. And annoying.
I can't even remember the brother.
Were there any other characters?
Actually...That girl. Was there any point in her? There relationship was so random. I didn't even understand what their relationship was supposed to be. Romantic? Friends? There wasn't enough written about it for me to care. And even then I probably wouldn't have cared because
The writing style. I didn't like it all. It was so jumpy and jarring that it was hard to immerse myself in the story, since when I read the next line I'd be taken right out of it again. It dived all over. I was dizzy reading it. I know it was self-published (?) but I can't help nit-picking the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
Keeping the worst for last...The 'twists'. They just came out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I love a book with twists...But a good twist has foreshadowing. Clues leading up to. These twists literally just popped up in the middle of nowhere. I won't spoil anything...But the ending? What the hell happened? I don't understand how any of it was possible, unless you ignore the entire story.
Recommendation:
God...Just realized how harsh my review sounds. But I am picky when it comes to books. I dislike a lot more books than I like. Overall, I'd recommend this book if you want a quick read. You might not understand what you read but at least it's quick.
Before I start this, I just want to say thanks to the author for sending me a copy.
Now...
What the hell did I just read?
And not in a good way.
I'll be fair, though...I'll discuss the good before I get to bad.
Good:
I liked that it tackled cocaine addiction in an accurate way. I just like books that tackle drug addiction. Full Stop. Hence, why I have an 'addiction' shelf. This was a good aspect of the book.
I kind of liked the sibling relationship.
I kind of liked how it skipped between different times in the MC's life.
It was...short?
Um...I can't think of anything else, which brings me onto the first bad point.
Bad:
It wasn't memorable at all. I literally read it yesterday and I can hardly remember it, which makes it extra difficult to review. I like books that leaving a lasting impression...That have me thinking about them for weeks and from the description, I thought this would be one of those books. But I was disappointed. The story I can remember slightly but I cannot remember any of the characters names.
Hence, characters. The protagonist (whatever his name was?) was a character I couldn't relate to at all. I literally didn't care what he did. He could have jumped off a bridge and I still wouldn't have cared...He was mopey and whiny. And annoying.
I can't even remember the brother.
Were there any other characters?
Actually...That girl. Was there any point in her? There relationship was so random. I didn't even understand what their relationship was supposed to be. Romantic? Friends? There wasn't enough written about it for me to care. And even then I probably wouldn't have cared because
The writing style. I didn't like it all. It was so jumpy and jarring that it was hard to immerse myself in the story, since when I read the next line I'd be taken right out of it again. It dived all over. I was dizzy reading it. I know it was self-published (?) but I can't help nit-picking the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
Keeping the worst for last...The 'twists'. They just came out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I love a book with twists...But a good twist has foreshadowing. Clues leading up to. These twists literally just popped up in the middle of nowhere. I won't spoil anything...But the ending? What the hell happened? I don't understand how any of it was possible, unless you ignore the entire story.
Recommendation:
God...Just realized how harsh my review sounds. But I am picky when it comes to books. I dislike a lot more books than I like. Overall, I'd recommend this book if you want a quick read. You might not understand what you read but at least it's quick.
February 23, 2016
This novella took me on the soul-searching and poetic journey of two brothers, Zak and Daniel, who have severely complicated lives due to two accidents that happened when they were children.
I was sucked into Zak's life and I knew I wouldn't be let go until I saw it to the end. The story jumps around a bit, switching from the memories of his childhood, his therapy sessions and his journey through Hong Kong. Zak's life is kinda of hectic and he seems lost. He lives his life with no apparent meaning which I reckon is what made this story so easy to connect with. Not that I live my life with absolutely no meaning, but the desire to seek meaning is present, to some extent, in all of us.
His consistent conflict with life had me gripped, but it was the execution that took a hold of me. I got lost in the words that Zak used to describe his life. The writing was gloriously elegant and showed perfectly how he would be thinking/processing things. It really was beautiful. I did have a little trouble at first getting into this different style of writing but it wasn't long before I had the hang of it and was really enjoying it.
One element I especially loved was the blacked out mirrors to hide his physical reflection. I thought that this really showed how well executed this story was told.
The overall story was dark but not overbearing which made it easy for me to jump straight into. I would definitely recommend this to pretty much everyone because I feel like it is quite accessible. His cocaine addiction and attempts at his own life may be triggering to some readers though.
I found this novella incredibly intriguing and I am quite interested to see what seem Jamie comes up with.
I was sucked into Zak's life and I knew I wouldn't be let go until I saw it to the end. The story jumps around a bit, switching from the memories of his childhood, his therapy sessions and his journey through Hong Kong. Zak's life is kinda of hectic and he seems lost. He lives his life with no apparent meaning which I reckon is what made this story so easy to connect with. Not that I live my life with absolutely no meaning, but the desire to seek meaning is present, to some extent, in all of us.
His consistent conflict with life had me gripped, but it was the execution that took a hold of me. I got lost in the words that Zak used to describe his life. The writing was gloriously elegant and showed perfectly how he would be thinking/processing things. It really was beautiful. I did have a little trouble at first getting into this different style of writing but it wasn't long before I had the hang of it and was really enjoying it.
One element I especially loved was the blacked out mirrors to hide his physical reflection. I thought that this really showed how well executed this story was told.
The overall story was dark but not overbearing which made it easy for me to jump straight into. I would definitely recommend this to pretty much everyone because I feel like it is quite accessible. His cocaine addiction and attempts at his own life may be triggering to some readers though.
I found this novella incredibly intriguing and I am quite interested to see what seem Jamie comes up with.
December 9, 2013
Fantastic! I loved reading this book. I was torn between racing through pages wanting to see how it ended and putting it down so I didn't finish it too quickly. Perfectly paced, never a dull moment, dutch is at once terrifying, heartbreaking, exciting and absorbing.
The story focuses on a family dealing with past traumas. The book takes readers between warm, cozy memories of a beloved childhood home, Hong Kong's back alley nightlife, and a therapist's office. From drug binges and therapy sessions, we learn how much this family loved each other and how hard it is to deal with the past. All the characters in the story add insight and clarity to the situation, but just when you think you've got it all figured out, the author takes you on an unexpected turn that both shocks and satisfies.
There are subtle things I liked too -- the descriptions of Hong Kong are vivid and engrossing (I felt like I was right there along side the characters), the language is pitch perfect (including profanities and slang) for the generation it portrays, and the font in the book was refreshingly different, but easy to read.
I was fortunate to win a copy of this book on Goodreads and am now a fan of Jamie Christian Desplaces. I look forward to reading whatever he writes next. Definitely recommended!
The story focuses on a family dealing with past traumas. The book takes readers between warm, cozy memories of a beloved childhood home, Hong Kong's back alley nightlife, and a therapist's office. From drug binges and therapy sessions, we learn how much this family loved each other and how hard it is to deal with the past. All the characters in the story add insight and clarity to the situation, but just when you think you've got it all figured out, the author takes you on an unexpected turn that both shocks and satisfies.
There are subtle things I liked too -- the descriptions of Hong Kong are vivid and engrossing (I felt like I was right there along side the characters), the language is pitch perfect (including profanities and slang) for the generation it portrays, and the font in the book was refreshingly different, but easy to read.
I was fortunate to win a copy of this book on Goodreads and am now a fan of Jamie Christian Desplaces. I look forward to reading whatever he writes next. Definitely recommended!
March 30, 2014
I received this book from Goodreads and although it is a subject I would not usually choose to read, I'm glad I did. I do wish Goodreads would offer half stars as I would have rated it 3 1/2.
The story is a raw account of Zak's drug addiction resulting from two very bad incidents occurring in Zak and his brother Daniel's childhood which irreversibly changed their lives. Zak's downward spiral and the physical and emotional pain of addiction is well portrayed. This book is insightful, hard-hitting and the author has a unique style of writing which is beautifully descriptive at times and brutally honest in the darkness of addiction.
The story is a raw account of Zak's drug addiction resulting from two very bad incidents occurring in Zak and his brother Daniel's childhood which irreversibly changed their lives. Zak's downward spiral and the physical and emotional pain of addiction is well portrayed. This book is insightful, hard-hitting and the author has a unique style of writing which is beautifully descriptive at times and brutally honest in the darkness of addiction.
August 22, 2016
A very different, and somewhat complicated writing style. I struggled a little with the way that the story unraveled, often jumping from present, to past, then back into the here and now. It felt a little bit all over the place. It did however come to an abrupt ending with a very unexpected twist, a turn in events that left me gob-smacked. 4 STAR rating for its very different style - I would like to read another book by the same author - to see if there is a pattern or if this book is unique.
November 7, 2013
Dutch is about two brothers who struggled with the loss of their parents after they died in a car accident. Zak had become addicted to drugs and tells us his story.
Deplaces' poetic style combined with a contemporary story-line was incredibly refreshing. It does not happen to often that one can read about the horrors of drug abuse in a language so beautiful.
December 1, 2014
Kind of confusing the way it was set out with jumps from past to present, but seems like a pretty good representation of what it's like to lead a drug filled life and the struggles that go along with it. Reading this book you get the sense of the hectic life that the main character leads, with an unexpected twist at the end that makes sense of it all.
October 2, 2019
My review can be found here: https://wallflowerwendy.wordpress.com...
April 13, 2014
The fourth star is for the killer ending!!! A good read, indeed...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews