Booklover

Tirza has been one of the best books I have read this year. It is a significant book about obsession. The style of the Dutch writer is somewhere between Dostoevsky and Coetzee. Disturbing scenes and weird dialogues among the characters reveal the secrets of a family. Because of the unlikable characters and disturbing parts of the story, the book may not be for everyone, however, the author Arnon Grunberg writes superbly and the book becomes unputdownable in a weird way. While the protagonist Hofmeester is questioning his life via the return of his irritating wife and daughters leaving the house one by one, the story reveals itself in layers to the unknown and unexpected twists.

I liked the first part of the book better. After the Party section, I lost my attention a little at the journey of Hofmeester in the desert (I think this part is unnecessarily too long) until a definite point that I cannot talk about here since I don’t wish to give spoilers. All I can say, I felt a small scale of shock after I have found out what really happened. Although it is expectable if you read and understand the main character carefully, the narration of the obsession of a father has been an unforgettable read.