Undermajordomo Minor Luisterboek Tooltip Luisterboeken beluister je met de bol.com Kobo app.

Geschreven bij Undermajordomo Minor

Loved PdW’s debut for its portrayal of alcoholism in the rarely-used accusative and second person singular-style. Enjoyed his absurdist “The Sisters Brothers”, shortlisted for Britain’s most prestigious literary prize. Was this novel or novella (my edition is generous with empty space) written to make no sense or point at all? Written in the polite, elevated language of moralistic German fairytales and situated in a country with steam-powered trains and high mountains where gold coins are an accepted currency, it is another exercise in making no sense and being absurd.
It has all the ingredients on a fairytale. A slightly-built, uncourageous youth named Lucien (17, but called Lucy by everyone), strikes out into the world. Thanks to his village pastor he finds employment in a faraway castle high up in the mountains. There, and in the poor village at its feet, he submits to plenty of novel impressions, some nice, some horrid. Such as feeling liked, loved even (Klara!), but also fear and confusion about what he sees. But PdW refuses to turn his novel into a Gothic tale. So what is it?
It is a colorful collection of anecdotes and incidents undergone or seen by Lucy, devoid of substance, meaning or morality. An alienating novel because of its weird personal and place names, gross aristocratic excess, unexplained regional war and other stretches of the imagination. A redeeming feature is that Lucy does have feelings, some strong, others muted by polite manners of speech. There is love and rivalry for the heart of Klara. There is perseverance towards the end, so that he emerges from the pitch dark back to the world as he knew it, the castle, the village below, his place of birth. But there is no point at all to what he has done, no consequence, prize or moral. At times this reader was ready to abandon this novel, thinking why bother with this shit any longer. I persevered right to the final page and am proud of myself. Pointless and disappointing.