André Rodenburg > Recent Status Updates

Helaas blijft van de brille van Bomans in deze uiterst uitvoerige biografie weinig over. De ironie van Bomans lijkt zijn biograaf soms te ontgaan. Wellicht is de ruimte voor citaten auteursrechtelijk beperkt en je kunt zijn boeken zelf (her)lezen, maar de aandacht van Gé Vaartjes gaat nu vooral uit naar voortdurende correspondentie over voorschotten en dubbel gepubliceerde of juist helemaal niet geleverde teksten.

A dismal experience - at least in the first half thousand pages or so.
A man overthrows the powers that be, declares himself king, kills off his rival siblings (or else his mother will). Neighboring country invades, overthrows king. Repeat (sometimes the same story happens in a different continent).

The first chapters of this book are a bit underwhelming, it’s a seemingly endless series of kings marrying cousins and killing siblings (or else their mothers will), while destroying each others cities. The humanity I haven’t found yet. Maybe it’s the Dutch translation I’m reading but there are annoying mistakes such as misspelled names (e.g. Hisphaistos) and confusing death rate and life expectancy.

I agree with Zoe’s review: the outset seems promising but you don’t really get to care about the majority of the boo’s characters.
While the novel is set in North Africa, the arrival of a Hollywood film crew hardly affects the daily life of the local community and most of the action seems to be in reports on the Arbuckle Affair.
It would have been more interesting to follow the story through Rania’s eyes.

Gripped me from the first chapter.