Cheese [Paperback]

Willem Elsschot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

Cheese is a gentle, satirical fable of capitalism and wealth. A clerk in Antwerp suddenly becomes the chief agent in Belgium and Luxembourg for Edam cheese and is saddled with 10,000 wheels of the red-rinded delight. But he has no idea how to run a business or how to sell his goods, and what’s more, he doesn’t even like cheese. Steeped in the atmosphere of the 1930s, an era of smart operators and failed businessmen, Cheese gracefully portrays the rigid class divisions of the time and a man’s obsession with status. This comic masterpiece about the perils of upward mobility is as relevant in the age of Internet investors and dot-com failures as it was when it was written.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1933, this classic Dutch comedy tells the tale of a determined but misguided marine shipping clerk enmeshed in a cumbersome cheese-centered farce. In early 1930s Amsterdam, a friend of a friend offers 50-year-old Frans Laarmans a position as an Edam cheese distributor. Laarmans isn't fond of cheese upon visiting a cheese shop, he observes, "The Roqueforts and Gorgonzolas lewdly flaunted their mould, and a squadron of Camemberts let their pus ooze out freely" but he is willing to snatch at any opportunity to escape his drab job at the shipping yards and enhance his social standing. Despite help from his wife, who is a bit sharper than her husband in business matters, Laarmans finds his new occupation exhausting. Before selling his first Edam, he wastes days searching for a typewriter to write up receipts for unmade sales and hours searching shops for a desk. In the meantime, 10,000 wheels of Edam are delivered. When he is informed that his supervisor is en route to meet him and settle accounts, Laarmans frantically struggles to make a sale. Doomed from the start, his final weak efforts are to no avail, and even his one success is ill timed. The book's poker-faced humor falls a bit flat in translation, though Laarmans's ordeal makes for nail-biting reading, and Elsschot's class commentary is astute. (Apr.)Forecast: The small trim size, bright jacket and low price point may make this an appealing gift buy, though Elsschot's particular brand of dry humor won't be to everyone's taste.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“… makes for nail–biting reading, and Elsschot’s class commentary is astute.” -- Publishers Weekly

“A masterpiece… and one that’s enormous fun to read.” -- Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Granta UK (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862075565
• ISBN-13: 978-1862075566
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,863,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delectable!, September 14, 2002

By 

stackofbooks "stackofbooks" (Walpole, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cheese (Hardcover)

Willem Elsschot was the pseudonym of Alfons De Ridder, who is widely considered a giant in Flemish literature. All of his works are very concise and "Cheese" is no different.

Within a mere 126 pages, Elsschot humorously recounts the tale of Frans Laarmans, an ordinary clerk, who tries his hand vainly at the cheese business. Laarmans is a clerk with General Marine and Shipbuilding Company and is quite content to plod along until a friend prods him to delve into the cheese business. What follows is a wonderfully wry and funny look at business. Larmaans is quite unsure about what to do when ten thousand wheels of the red-rinded Edam cheeses arrive at his doorstep. He knows he has to sell them all, but would rather first set up his office with a proper desk and typewriter. In the end, his business collapses predictably, but Laarman's failure saddens the reader. One feels for the shy clerk right from the beginning to the end.

Elsschot had a wonderful gift for telling a story in just a few pages and "Cheese" is a wonderful example of it. I was tempted to read more by the author but sadly found out that most of the rest of his work is out of print. Special thanks then to Granta Books for republishing this one.

Other pluses for the book are the bright red jacket, the price, and the crisp writing style. I finished the book in one sitting at the beach.

"Cheese" is just as delectable as the full-cream Edams featured in it. Dig in!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious, May 1, 2002

By 

villekulla - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cheese (Hardcover)

I cannot remember the last time a book made me laugh out loud. In public. The self-deprecating flavor of the humor in this chronicle of an inept businessman is somewhere between Jerome K. Jerome and Jacques Tati. Highly recommended escapist, absurdist fun. Also for lovers of all things Belgian: Harry Pearson's comic travelogue "A Tall Man in a Low Land," which brings the 1933 Belgium of "Cheese" into the present.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Charming Comic Novel, April 28, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cheese (Hardcover)

I wish more people knew about this book; I guess it doesn't help that its title makes it impossible to search for amongst the "cooking with cheese" books and what-not. This is witty little novel about the ups and downs (mostly downs) or someone attempting to start their own business. Very wry and well observed. It's not roar-out loud type of humor, but it will make you smile and nod in recognition -- and sometimes that's exactly the kind of humor you need.