This book, just published in Spain a few years after being swept in the Netherlands (where the author is best known as television personality) I have left a bad taste in the mouth and lower body still . The issues raised are not easy, despite the deceptive lightness of tone in the beginning, and the structure is designed to be providing a shock after another the unwary reader, hence the argument count for nothing because the surprise factor is fundamental to reading. But I'm not bothered by the lack of sensitivity of the author nor his hardness in presenting uncomfortable issues, which has left me rather worse has been the dehumanization that follows the set, the spoiled selfish beings for whom their own happiness comes Above all things, and certainly beyond his peers.
A novel theme so hard and structure based on sleight of data to the reader (in fact it is told in first person by a narrator as subjective and unreliable) would require an author with a very precise work plan and perfect mastery of the subject novel. And here is where the whole network fails, Herman Koch's novel is gets out of hand midway and has to stop resolving the situation as best they can, which to my taste is not too well. It is a brave book by an author who dares dared to say uncomfortable truths that many prefer to keep quiet, but unfortunately the message is lost in the tangle of argument where you just wrecked the story. A pity.
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