Joyce Bergvelt > Recent Status Updates

I got a 2nd hand copy of this book, as I am particularly interested in Simon van der Stel, one of the earlier governors of The Cape in South Africa. With the outdated sources historiën Picard had at his disposal in the early seventies, he wrote this rather fanciful, romantisized biographical novel on Van der Stel. I stopped reading when I realized how outdated his sources were.

Initially I thought it was the (Dutch) translation that I was struggling with: tortuously long sentences. I considered ending my struggle more than once, but persevered, and regretted doing so. Perhaps it was written with-the-more-initiated-on-Spanish-history-reader in mind, it did nothing to me. The best part was the last fifty pages, and even that wasn't really worth my while.