Paradies verloren: Roman

by Cees Nooteboom

Wer hat bloß die Engel aus der Welt verbannt, obwohl ich sie noch immer um mich spüre?« Ein überraschender Gedanke für eine junge Frau, die am eigenen Leibe erfahren mußte, daß unsere Welt »mehr mit der Hölle zu tun hat als mit dem Paradies«. Alma ist eines Abends auf einer ziellosen Fahrt durch São Paulo in die Favela Paraisópolis geraten und vergewaltigt worden. Um den Schatten zu bannen, reist sie mit ihrer Freundin Almut in das Land ihrer gemeinsamen Kindheitsträume, Australien, und begegnet in der Leere der Wüste einer Stille, die sie versöhnt. Doch die Traumzeit ist längst vergangen, die mythische Welt der Aborigines versunken: »Mein Australien war eine Fiktion.« Alma nimmt Abschied von den Reservaten des Garten Eden und macht die Welt zu ihrer Wüste – nicht ohne darin ihre Spuren zu hinterlassen. Ob von Füßen oder Flügeln: dem alternden Literaturkritiker, dessen Weg sie kreuzt, ist sie eine Offenbarung des Himmels. In seinem neuen Roman erbringt Cees Nooteboom den poetischen Beweis dafür, daß Phantasie Flügel verleiht und daß die Verstoßung aus dem Paradies das Beste war, das Gott für die Literatur hatte tun können. Denn Geschichten sind wie Engel, sie verkehren zwischen dem Irdischen und dem Imaginären, mit einer entscheidenden Einschränkung: die Passage verläuft nicht ohne Störungen, das ist ihr Ursprung. Der Irrfahrt Almas erwächst eine der schönsten Geschichten seit Miltons Dichtung über Adam und Eva.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Dutch Literature, Literary Fiction, Australia, Novels, Contemporary

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Cees Nooteboom (born Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria Nooteboom, 31 July 1933, in the Hague) is a Dutch author. He has won the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, the P.C. Hooft Award, the Pegasus Prize, the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs for Rituelen, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature and the Constantijn Huygens Prize, and has frequently been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.

His works include Rituelen (Rituals, 1980); Een lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1981); Berlijnse notities (Berlin Notes, 1990); Het volgende verhaal (The Following Story, 1991); Allerzielen (All Souls' Day, 1998) and Paradijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2004). (Het volgende verhaal won him the Aristeion Prize in 1993.) In 2005 he published "De slapende goden | Sueños y otras mentiras", with lithographs by Jürgen Partenheimer.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Th’ Archangel stood, and from the other Hill
To thir fixt Station, all in bright array
The Cherubim descended…”
John Milton – Paradise Lost
Lost Paradise is a tale of angels…

I could do without the Crucifixions, though it was fascinating to see how various artists dealt with the same subject, but it was the Annunciations that I adored. I have this thing about angels. Raphael, Botticelli, Giotto – as long as there are wings.

Of angels that had lost their paradise and now, invisible, roam amongst human beings…
Two girls leave Brazil heading for Australia – the continent they dreamt about quite a while… There they enrich their life experience but soon enough they’re out of money… However their luck doesn’t forsake them…

So what’s this about an offer?’
‘It’s in Perth. That’s miles away, but I think our junk heap can just about make it. There’s going to be a literary festival with a couple of theatre performances. They’re looking for angels, or rather extras dressed up as angels.’
‘To act in a play?’
‘No. I’m not sure I really understand it, but the way they explained it to me was that while the festival is going on, angels will be hidden all over the city. People are supposed to go and look for them.’
‘What do we have to do?’
‘Nothing. They give us a pair of wings and every day for a week someone picks us up and takes us to a hiding place in a church, or in a ruin, or in a bank. We just have to stay put all day and let people find us. Somehow it’s all related to Paradise Lost.’

One day a literary critic leaves Holland heading for Austria… There he hopes to lose his excessive weight in a health spa… Everything goes on excellently: special diet, massages, promenades, exercises… And suddenly he sees his lost dream…

They have met before – that much is clear. What no one can see, however, are the wings he mentally attaches to her back, the wings of an angel he has never been able to forget.

Biblical times are long forgotten… Humans and angels never meet anymore.

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 2 out of 5]

De fapt, 3, 5. Un scriitor „subevaluat”, cum spun fanii muzicii rock despre o melodie sau o trupă din anii 70.

Despre ce este vorba în poveste? Un critic literar reputat, Erik Zondag, se întîlnește de două ori în viață cu o femeie fatală, „femeia vieții lui”. Mai întîi, în Perth, Australia, la un joc de societate numit „vînătoarea de îngeri”. Erik prinde un „înger” (o femeie deghizată în heruvim, id est Alma) și se îndrăgostește subit de el / ea. Din păcate, Alma nu-i dă nici cea mai mică atenție, are inima din cuarț, e mai rece ca un sloi de gheață. Femeia-iceberg.

Nu știm prea bine de ce e așa: trebuie să reflectăm meticulos, să construim ipoteze, să coborîm în trecutul ei zbuciumat, să-i facem „anamneza”. Femeia a trăit, în Brazilia, o experiență traumatizantă, cum se spune. Bănuim în cazul ei o obsesie, un fix psihotic, un stigmat fobic. Nu mai poate iubi pe nimeni. Criticul literar s-a îndrăgostit degeaba. Înțelege astfel că nu-i suficient să-i critici pe alții în recenzii îmbufnate, să rîzi sardonic de bieții poeți, de prozatorii la modă, să participi la simpozioane despre viitorul literaturii, pentru a impresiona un „înger vulnerat”.

A doua oară se întîlnesc, peste ani și ani, într-un sanatoriu pentru hipertensivi și nevrotici supraponderali. Erik Zondag e unul dintre pacienți. Și-a pierdut suflul, vlaga. Nu mai are entuziasm. Suferă de plictis. Este lăsat în grija unei surori elegante, distinse, cu privire sugestivă de cuarț. Erik o recunoaște emoționat pe Alma. Femeia îl masează cu degete experte, dar îi ignoră, ca și mai înainte, trăirile. Nu-l bagă în seamă. Criticul literar n-a avut noroc: „O privi. Nici atunci acei ochi reci nu trădaseră nimic. Fusese un idiot...”.

Într-un cuvînt: un roman mai bun decît mă așteptam. Merită să-l citiți.

P. S. Iată cum privește Erik Zondag literatura și piața de carte olandeză:

„Balta se umpluse cu prea multe raţe şi lebede, trebuia ca din cînd în cînd unele să fie împuşcate. Literatura devenise o meserie, orice fitecine care studiase neerlandeza cu aversiune crescîndă trebuia neapărat să scrie un roman, debuturile magistrale se succedau din ce în ce mai repede, iar el era membru al unei echipe de curăţenie, o muncă neplăcută, însă utilă”.

[Glenn Russell]

Charming. Dreamy. Beautiful.

Lost Paradise - Dutch author Cees Nooteboom's enchanting short novel about a young lady and an older man and their crossing paths – twice.

I find a special appeal when novels feature multiple narrators, or what I term rotating first person. Lost Paradise has two narrators: Alma from São Paulo and Erik Zontag from Amsterdam. Actually, make that three if we include the narrator of the book's Prologue and Epilogue.

In the spirit of a trailer for a film, here's my own rendition of what could be a Lost Paradise trailer:

PROLOGUE
The narrator, lets call him Cees, waits for the last passenger to board, perhaps the smallest airplane he's ever been on. Ah, Cees is in for a treat. The passenger turns out to be a woman, “the kind of woman you hope will be seated next to you.” And Cees sees she's been assigned a window seat in the row ahead of him, on the left hand side, a seat where he can look at her as much as he wants. This young woman with long legs in khaki trousers opens a slim book but, darn, she's holding the book in such a way he can't read the title. Cees, an author himself, is forever curious about what books people are reading.

PART ONE
“Someone drove down the Marginal, along the Tietê, past the nouveau riche houses in Morumbi, and then, without giving a thought to where she was going or what she was doing, entered forbidden territory – not Ebú-Ecú, but Paraisópolis, the very worst favela of all, a hell rather than a paradise, and fraught with danger, making it, at that moment, irresistible.” That someone is Alma and she's talking about herself in the third person for a very specific reason: her car broke down in the favela and she was gang raped.

As a way of attempting to cope with her trauma, Alma is off to the Australian outback with her lifelong friend, Almut, a cheeky, sexy gal who always had her walls back home in São Paulo covered with reproductions of Willem de Kooning and Jean Dubuffet. Like Almut, Alma planned to study art history in college, but, unlike her friend, her fascination was not with modern art but the art of the Renaissance. Alma covered her walls with angels.

Alma and Almut read about the Aboriginal Dreamtime, and Almut came across something called the Sickness Dreaming Place. Alma became fascinated and desperately desired to visit this Sickness Dreaming Place. At one point, the friends split up, with Alma encountering an Aboriginal artist and his art. She lived with him for a while and also ventured out to the desert with him. Once back together, in order to acquire a skill to make money, the Brazilian gals took classes in physical therapy and massage.

Just when their funds are about to run out, Almut lets Alma know they can drive to Perth and make good money by taking part in a piece of performance art where they'll be dressed up as angles. “They give us a pair of wings and every day for a week someone picks us up and takes us to a hiding place in a church, or in a ruin, or in a bank. We just have to say put all day and let people find us. Somehow it's all related to Paradise Lost.” So they're off. And, as an angel, Alma has an encounter with an older man that proves moving and profound – for them both.

PART TWO
Erik Zontag is pushing fifty, a Dutch literary critic for a newspaper. His scathing review of the latest novel by one of his country's literary giants arrives on his doorstep that very morning. His girlfriend, Anja, eighteen years his junior and herself an art critic for a rival newspaper, accuses Zontag of writing an unfair review. No matter; this morning he's off from Amsterdam to an exclusive spa in the Austrian mountains.

Eric had mixed emotions about spending a week at a spa specializing in weight loss, but after five days he's feeling positively rejuvenated. Then it happens. He receives a note upon returning from his morning hike telling him the woman who has been given him a massage had a minor accident and someone else will be taking her place. Eric goes to meet her. "They have met before - that much is clear. What no one can see, however, are the wings he mentally attaches to her back, the wings of an angel he has never been able to forget."

EPILOGUE
Cees' plane has landed and he's now taking trains to his final destination. At one of the stations, he spots the woman. “She is wearing the same outfit she had on the plane and is carrying the same book – the book I thought I had written, the book I still have not been able to shake off." Cees summons the courage to speak to her, asks her for her opinion of the book. As to what book this attractive lass has been reading and what she has to say...for each reader to discover. But I'll give a hint. This epilogue mirrors the tale of Alma and Zontage.

Thank you, Cees Nooteboom, for this splendid novel.


Dutch author Cess Nooteboom, born 1933

[Dolors · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisite tale full of symbolism, sensuality and taste.
I finished the book in just one sitting and after I turned the last page, I felt as if I had savoured an expensive rare bitter sweet chocolate.
Two seemingly disconnected stories in two separate parts.
In the first one, Alma and Almut from Brazil decide to make their dream come true and travel to Australia, a country which has always been fascinating to them. Once there, they change in different and unexpected ways, and while Alma is able to confront her inner demons, Almut feels disappointed and misses Sao Paulo.
In the second, Erik, a German literary critic travels to a spa to improve his health and meets someone from his past, a person he was never able to forget.

Angels in all forms are present along the story, connecting all the characters and leading them to a breathtaking conclusion.
Nooteboom addresses to the reader before each part, a gesture I found intimate and delightful, I just loved the humility in which he exposed what his characters meant to him and how they kept living on their own, even after he had written the last page.

Stunning novel, brief, dreamlike and smooth, as an angel kiss. Not to be missed.

***MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS***

"I left the heaviness of the tropics, where all is motion and noise, to arrive at this stillness."
"You are a secret, even if you don't realise it."
"Sometimes I would sooner ask a question than know the answer."
"When I stand outside here, I do not just see the stars, I hear them."
"I have arrived. And when I leave, I will not need to take anything with me. I have everything."
"The triumph comes from realising - if only for a moment - that you are at once mortal and immortal."
"Angels can't be with people."

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hollanda Edebiyatı’nın önemli isimlerinden Cees Nooteboom’dan kitap tarifine uyan tan bir postmodern roman. Başlangıcı romanla ilgisiz, sonu ise açık bırakılmış, yazarın anlatıcılığıyla roman içinde roman şeklinde anlatılan, bilinç akışının yoğun kullanıldığı, büyülü gerçekciliğin ön planda olduğu bir anlatım.

İki temel hikaye (Avustralya’da Aborjinler ile ilgili bölüm ve Avusturya’da sağlıklı yaşam merkezinde geçen diğer bölüm) olaylarla zenginleştirilmiş ve sonu okuyucunun düş gücüne bırakılmış. Meleklere ve Aborjinlere kafayı takmış Alman asıllı Brezilya’lı Alma ile ellili yaşlarda arayış içindeki yazar-eleştirmen Erik’in yollarının önce Avustralya’daki sonra Avusturya’da kesişmesi çevresinde biraz metafizik biraz gerçeküstü olayların sıralandığı bir postmodern roman.

Keyifle ve belirli bir heyecan dozunda okunuyor, bunun yanısıra Aborjinler ile ilgili ilginç detayları da okuma şansı buluyorsunuz.

[Aslıhan Çelik Tufan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok çok eskiden sanırım lise zamanlarımda Aborjinlere merak salmış okumuştum. Beni o zamanlara götüren bir kitap oldu. Büyülü gerçeklik sularında, ucu açık hatta uçuk kaçık bir okuma. Bir o kadar da heyecanlı.

Çok severek okudum.
Tavsiyemdir.

Keyifli okumalar.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nooteboom is a unique stylist, and this is another beautiful miniature - a cryptic, allusive and dreamlike meditation on the nature of paradise.

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verschillende reizigers op zoek naar hun verloren paradijs. Ze zijn zichzelf ergens in hun leven kwijtgeraakt en zoeken naar iets, of vluchten ergens voor. Het boek is een spel van taal en stijl. In de proloog bevindt zich een onbekend boek, dat tussendoor richting epiloog geschreven wordt. Overal in de tekst verwijzingen naar engelen. Engelen zijn tijdloos, terwijl mensen gevangen zijn in de tijd. Alleen op reis en tijdens de slaap kunnen we daaruit ontsnappen en als het ware inloggen in het collectief onderbewuste. Om zo ons paradijs te bereiken?

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the Eskimos have fifty words for snow then the Scots have fifty for rain. One of these is smirr which means mist-like precipitation; you don’t necessarily realise you’re being rained on but you nevertheless end up wringing from head to foot. That’s what this book felt like to me. Some authors chuck their meanings in your face like a bucket of water; others, Nooteboom in this case, lead you down a meandering path and distract you with all sorts of interesting distractions—mostly angels in his case—and then the book’s over and you realise it means something to you but not in a way that’s easy to articulate. You’re soaking wet and you’re not quite sure how that happened.

The book is in two parts and for a while it felt like two novellas. The first concerns two Brazilian girls who travel to Australia after one of them is gang raped. The second focuses on a Dutch literary critic who travels to an Austrain health spa for a week of detoxing and general pampering. You would think they had nothing in common whereas they actually have two things: the masseuse and the critic have met before, in Australia as it happens where they shared a moment or it might’ve been three moments although if it was I’m not sure which of the three was the moment. Moments such as these are always meaningful but most of us would struggle to say what they meant other than a vague “something”.

Meaning is not always a cerebral thing. As a writer it’s easy to forget that because words are geared to conveying that particular kind of meaning: facts, figures, dates, times, whys wherefores. Two lost souls encounter each other and try to connect but, due to circumstances—specifically the intervention of the Perth police—fail and so the universe decides to give them a second chance but just because their first attempt was interrupted shouldn’t suggest it was going to succeed. Maybe what the universe wants is to remove any doubt.

Of course we’re never left in any doubt that these are fictional characters because the writer intrudes into the text and lets us know where he first encountered them, the woman aboard a Berlin-bound flight and the man standing on a Holland train platform. Like Amos Oz in Rhyming Life and Death he then takes these two and weaves their imaginary lives together. And quite beautifully too.

[Joe Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’

‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’

Edgar Allen Poe Eldorado 1849

Lost Paradise is Susan Massotty's 2007 translation of the Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom's delightful 2004 novel Paradijs Verloren . This is one of the most touching books that I've read in 2015. I truly enjoyed this short wonderful novel about travel that remind the reader that much about life is about pilgrimage.

Nooteboom is a great travel writer as well as a novelist. His globe trotting serves him well here. In this book, a writer on a plane looks at the elements that surround him as he becomes inspired to put together a story. He writes about a ravaged young woman who searches for beauty in strange and distant lands and a cynic, who while attending a writers conference, meets an angel.

Angels are curious creatures. According to the poet John Milton an angel blocks the way to Eden, as a reminder to mankind that paradise is lost forever. Conversely, angels bring messages of hope to mankind. Like the poem Eldorado by Edgar Allen Poe, this book reminds the reader to seek what is important in life be it truth or beauty or whatever. Please read this great book. Never stop looking for angels.

[Rodrigo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cees Noteboom is one of these authors that developed a cult following around him. This is my first try. Not very successful I would say. Brazilian girl decides to drive at night in the middle of a favela (who does that?). Car breaks down. Gets gang raped and loses interest in life. Decides to go to Australia to understand the meaning of it all. Gets laid with a mysterious aboriginal artist that does not say anything but knows the ancient secrets (or at least she believes he does). Gets healed. Meets a middle aged Dutch literary critic in crisis. The guy gets crazily in love with her after one night where nothing really happens and then they part. They meet three years after in a Spa in Austria (!?) where the Dutch guy goes to run away from his abusive 18-year younger girlfriend and also to lose some kilos. She is a masseuse. Nothing happens. Come on. Not really much for a first impression.

[Mihaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 *

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Angels, it is said, are often unsure whether they pass among the living or the dead." (Rainer Maria Rilke)

When trying to characterize Cees Nooteboom's novel Lost Paradise (2005) in one word, "ethereal" immediately comes to mind. Synonyms of "ethereal" are many: "delicate, exquisite, dainty, elegant, graceful, fragile, airy, fine, subtle". Except for "fragile", all these adjectives fit the book perfectly. I would add three more adjectives to specify my perception of the book: "whimsical, enchanting, and magical". Now, what do the real critics - people who unlike me can write well in English - say about Lost Paradise? Their adjectives are "luminous, numinous, glorious, dreamy, self-conscious, daring, poetic, provocative, cleansing, brief, beautiful, mysterious, radiant, imaginative, dense, layered, magical, innovative, cool, sophisticated, ironic" (the last three are courtesy of J. M. Coetzee).

Even if one can say that Lost Paradise is about angels, the novel has an earthly plot, and not an insubstantial one at that. In a stunning Prologue, Mr. Nooteboom performs the best metafiction trick ever. Let's only say that suddenly - while being inside the story - we are outside of it and looking in. Highly virtuosic! Part One takes us to Australia where two young Brazilian women, girls really, fascinated with the indigenous people's culture, visit the sacred Aboriginal places. For one of the women, the narrator, this journey becomes a life-altering event, in spiritual, physical, and artistic dimensions. Towards the end of the story the women perform as angels in the Perth Angel Project (this is an event that really happened in 2000). Part Two is narrated by a middle-aged Dutch literary critic who travels to a rejuvenation clinic in Austria and is subject to sophisticated healing and anti-aging treatment. Eventually, the two stories merge - obviously angels must have helped.

While the synopsis may sound superficial, an incredible amount of weighty substance is packed into this slim volume (150 pages; Mr. Nooteboom obviously follows Italo Calvino's advice that "books ought to be short"): the dying of the Aboriginal culture, the serendipity of intersecting trajectories of human lives, the transforming power of art that lifts the human existence to transcend its earthly form, the celebration of life, the role of chance, loving as the essence of being, even the trauma of rape, and - perhaps most touchingly - the homage to the ancient humans, our ancestors from tens of thousands of years ago.

This being a Cees Nooteboom's work, it is beautifully written, and the translation from Dutch by Susan Massotty is superb as well. (After the rating I am quoting a dazzling passage.) And despite all the depth, this is a very readable book! The last scenes of the first part, the vividly portrayed happenings from the Perth festival, are unforgettable.

Cees Nooteboom has joined the list of my most favorite authors. After the ascetic and serious Rituals, metafictional In the Dutch Mountains, and unforgettably beautiful The Following Story, Lost Paradise is another exceptional work by the Dutch writer. One may be stunned by how different the books are - the supreme quality of prose is the only similarity between them - which to me is one of the marks of truly great writers and artists in general; they rarely if ever repeat themselves.

A few weeks ago I asked my wife - who knows much more about serious literature than I do - to read Nooteboom's The Following Story, which has recently become one of the very best books I have ever read. She liked it, but not as much as I did. "Impenetrable", she said, "Too enigmatic." Maybe. Well, if we put these three novels on a scale of impenetrability, then The Following Story would be somewhere in the middle, with Rituals at the enigmatic end, while in Lost Paradise all is in the plain view of the reader - thus yielding a very low score on the impenetrability scale. Perhaps only the references to Milton's Paradise Lost are a little obscure.

Finally, I should add that the readers who have seen Wim Wenders' magnificent movie about two invisible angels who roam over Berlin, Wings of Desire, will find some similarities in the overall mood. Perhaps one needs angels to reflect so sharply on the human condition.

Five stars.


"I would like to say something about my body, about how I have realised, more than ever, that it will be there only once, that it coincides with what I call 'me', but I reach a point where things can no longer be described in words. One cannot talk about ecstasy. And yet that is what I mean. I have never existed as much."

[mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost Paradise tells two seemingly unrelated stories: one follows two young Brazilian women who move to Australia, while the other centers on a middle-aged Dutch critic who visits spa in Austria.

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book of empty beauty for me. There are two apparently separate stories which eventually intersect in an improbable and unbelievable way. Is it beautiful? Yes, but not in a satisfactory way in my opinion. The Brazilian protagonist of the first story sees the incomprehensible magic and sad present and future of Australian aborigines but doesn't give much of a thought to the same qualities in the Amazonian native people in her own country nor to the class difference between herself and the rapists in the favela who attacked her. It seems the author either didn't think this worthy of mention or couldn't complete a storyline that considered this when she wondered what happened. The second story felt like an add-on that really detracted from whatever good there was in the first. It wasn't a horrible book but it could have been so much more. When I was reading it, I thought of an unhappy marriage of Jerzy Kosinski and "new age." Bad mix.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compact, beautifully written novel demonstrates how it is possible to write effectively and economically while exploring complex themes.

I especially enjoyed the thoughts about Australian indigenous clutures:

‘All kinds of things were sacred but nothing had been preserved in a book.’

[Jasminka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeste vrlo elokventno i divno napisana knjižica, na početku interesantna i obećavajuća, čak i obrazovna, ali me je kraj zbunio i pitam se - jesam li razumela sve što se razumeti moglo ili sam se i ja izgubila među svim onim anđelima u Izgubljenom Raju?

[Sorin Hadârcă · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poetic și pretențios. Dacă s-ar fi putut fără asta, poate și-ar fi ieșit ceva din acest „pierdut paradis”.

[Harris Walker]

rating and review to come

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like an angel, this book flew right over my head.

It's a svelte little thing, just 150 pages, and the prologue got my hopes up, all metatextual and clever. But the real meat of the story, what little there is, falls flat to me. Neither character is particularly vivid, their inner conflicts are vague and confused—which is realistic, true to life, but not very interesting to read about.

Nooteboom's prose is that fine stuff you'll find in literary fiction which, in its most concentrated moments, reaches either utter genius or insane pretension.

Take this passage:

No lowlander can sleep with impunity in the mountains. The window, which has been left slightly ajar, lets in the cold night air. The man in the bed works his way through a series of dreams, none of which he will remember. In the silence, which he does not notice, an owl hunts its prey and a startled deer plunges into the black syntax of the forest, where Erik Zondag will take a walk tomorrow without identifying the deer's track's. When he wakes, he will see a snowy mountain range lit by the first rays of the sun—a row of sharp, gleaming-white teeth, daubed here and there with blood.

Sparse but beautifully constructed, there's no fat. Using simple action sentences, we perfectly understand the sense of both modern ignorance and ancient, natural menace. It's great.

Now let's take a look at this one.

Is there such a thing as pornography without the porn? Simply an idea in your head, without a graphic image? Pure pornography of the mind, or of a situation, in which a lie changes every move, kiss, caress and climax into something else, something obscene and perverse? I think about this, and yet at the same time I lie here and wait for him to utter one of his infrequent words, for him to touch me again and make me forget my thoughts.

By contrast, this passage is unclear, ridiculous, and eyeroll-inducing. These are supposed to be the thoughts of a woman in her twenties, and yet I feel for all the world as though I'm lying in bed after an ill-advised fling with my English professor and enduring a navel-gazing soliloquy on "pornography of the mind." I mean, good god.

This dovetails with the whiffs I got of "men writing women syndrome," as when Nooteboom took a moment to describe the pert breasts of a passenger on an airplane and then in the next chapter wrote about a woman being raped in a Brazilian slum; it's hard to put your finger on why these things are so jarring sometimes, but the only explanation I can give is that his treatment of women feels uniquely short-sighted, as though they are not real people or, if they are, their inner lives are surely dominated by thoughts and feelings about men.

I like some of the ideas Nooteboom plays with but frankly I think they're done much better elsewhere, like Angels in America or Revolt of the Angels, which also take them much further.

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Global Challenge: Netherlands

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I stand outside here, I do not just see the stars, I hear them.

My first Nooteboom and it was a good one. This book is in two parts, two stories, separate stories, but they're related. And as the title might suggest he taps into the energies from Paradise Lost. I've never read Milton's Paradise Lost but I'm sure there are some theme overlaps or a game of theme tag going on in this book. But then maybe not. Like I said, I never read Milton though there are a few excerpts of his epic poem scattered in this book.

What might you find in this book? Lost souls searching for meaning, Aborigines, spas, and angels... beautiful angels. Angels you can make love to while their wings flap.

Nooteboom is a clever writer and his words are delicate. He makes you think without giving you a headache. He makes you laugh. And he makes you just say, "Damn!" while shaking your head and smiling.

How much thinking can you do without ever leaving the room? I took a trip in my head and ended up back where I started - in the stillness.

[Tom Vandevelde · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 'Paradijs Verloren' scheert Nooteboom niet de hoge toppen die hij haalt in o.a. 's Nachts Komen De Vossen'. In een korte triptiek van net iets meer dan 150 pagina's schetst hij een jonge vrouw, een oudere man, en hun in de tijd verloren gegane verhaal. Het middendeel, waarin de licht verzuurde journalist Erik Zondag dik tegen zijn zin onderworpen wordt aan een kuur van koude stortbaden, minieme maaltijden en new age massages, is vintage Nooteboom, maar het uitdiepen van de jonge vrouw die zijn tegenspeelster - nee, eerder de hoofdrolspeelster - behoort te zijn, loopt helaas een pak stroever. Bovendien blijft ook de herinnering die hen bindt onder de verwachtingen. Of een kortverhaal dat te lang duurt, of een uitgehongerde roman; of een hoge twee-op-vijf of nog net een lage drie, maar in elk geval niet Nootebooms beste werk. Forgettable, zoals de Britten dat dan noemen.

[Isa (Pages Full of Stars) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Polish we have a saying "triumph of form over substance" and I think it would describe this book to me perfectly. The writing is poetic, lyrical, yet there's not much story and plot to it, nor does it have well built characters.

I did like the idea of remembering your ancestors and ancient cultures, and the motif of the angel exhibition, but overall the book fell short to me. I was able to catch bits of symbolism and philosophical reflections but it wasn't enough for me to enjoy this book in general. Perhaps, I didn't fully understand it, but that's my impression.

[Javier Sainz · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia empieza a tambor batiente, llega un momento en el que no sabes que estás leyendo, pero la idea que ese hecho o hechos se entrelazarán con algo más adelante te hace seguir, llega el fin del libro y nunca llega el climax de la historia. Quizás el que no me haya agradado es porque me hice mi propia historia del libro. Como historia no es buena, pero da tela para filosofar.

[Senna Rietveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ik had de ene herinnering ingeruild voor een andere, die me net zo min met rust zou laten als die andere dat gedaan had. Ik zou in het hoofd van iemand bestaan zonder dat ik wist wie ik daar was. Vroeger zou ik die gedachte ondraaglijk gevonden hebben, maar nu maakte het niet meer uit. Ik wist nu zelf wie ik was." Deze kwam precies op tijd Cees, heel mooi.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like others, I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems to be how lives can cross in ways that seem miraculous and effect those involved the same way. Both spare and replete.

[Parascovia Belschi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un roman -poezie.
Atât de multă poezie frumoasă cu descrieri nebănuite, cu comparații enigme și cu îngeri.
E greu să îi fac o descriere cărții - o fată este purtată pe 3 continente, găsește îngeri și peisaje paradisiace , se contopește cu acestea și totul datorită/ din cauza unei ieșiri cu mașina într-un cartier famat din Sao Paulo. Exact ca izgonirea din paradis: începe cu o mușcătură banală de măr și iată-ne azi în lumea asta bizară și pestriță.
Subiectul țese fire încurcate ( pentru mine așa au fost), te poartă peste tot ca să rămâi, în final, cu capul într-un nor de pene de îngeri.
Dar încercați să vă imaginați asta: "... îngeri rătăciți mergând pe plajă, singuri sau braț la braț. La orizont amurgul era încă roșu, dar, când se uită puțin mai târziu, văzu cum lumina lunii, care aluneca peste valurile înalte, dispărea și reapărea strălucind iar și iar." Hmmmm? Ce spuneți, ați gustat din paradis?
Sau simțiți asta: "Loviturile de bici ale muzicii, care se auzea din ce în ce mai tare, îi pătrundeau până-n oase."
Romanticilor, liricilor, visătorilor, cartea asta le va deschide un nou ochi ( sau nu) și îi va legăna pe paginile ei ca într-un hamac agățat pe o plajă din Australia.

[Willem · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2,5) I feel that even though Cees Nooteboom's style in all of its density and endless references excites me, it can also be a bit too full of itself to make for an enjoyable read. This at least is how I perceived Paradise Lost, a novel about a Brazilian woman and a Dutch man who meet each other once in a highly unusual setting and their subsequent meeting a couple of years later. The book is divided into two parts - the first one focusing on the woman's point of view and the second on the man's - each of them giving insight into their respective struggles as wandering souls on earth who in some way have been driven from paradise and are trying to find it again, potentially in each other. There are plenty of interesting passages to be found here but, as noted before, Nooteboom's style often takes the overhand and becomes too poetic and overwhelming to keep track of the story that's hidden somewhere beneath it. The first half is, in this regard, much more difficult to read than the second. Overall definitely not my favorite of Nooteboom's writing though I do see the appeal in certain parts.

[Bert · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Zij weet dat er maar één ding is dat hij wil vragen, maar het is nog niet de tijd. Zij weet alles van daarvoor, haar onaanraakbaarheid, dat wat hij niet kon weten. Een ogenblik had ze zich bijna laten verleiden, ze zou hem nooit vertellen waarom, omdat het met medelijden te maken had gehad, met wat zij in de weken daarvoor had meegemaakt. Hij kon niet weten wie ze was, en dat was goed. Zij kende zijn verhaal al evenmin, en ook dat was goed. Zo moest het blijven.' (p.133)


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