Customer Reviews

Love's Death

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have just read the reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal provided by Amazon, you are probably scratching your head. One concludes: "But the central question in reading about these unlikable people turns out to be, why should we care?" and the other: "This is the fifth novel by the acclaimed Dutch-Belgian writer and the first to appear in English. After reading it, both casual and serious literary readers will be lining up for the next." On one thing there can be little disagreement: Oscar van den Boogaard writes spare and, at times, powerful prose that lands like a punch to the gut. "When Vera was born, she felt she no longer had the need to punish the world for everything she had not become." The characters, especially Oda and Daisy, are well-crafted. To the negative reviewer I say, yes, they are (mostly) unlikable people, but they ARE people; credit your dislike to van den Boogaard's skill and (as always) Ina Rilke's outstanding translation.

That said, this book is not for everyone. It will appeal most to people who have been in difficult long-term relationships and especially those who have parented a 15 year-old. At the heart of this story is the asymmetric, largely pathological relationship between Oda and Paul. Oda is highly attractive and charming, Paul, an indefatigable "special ops" soldier. We never understand how they wound up together, but that is not so unusual, is it? Oda needs control. Paul needs Oda to need his love. That is a dangerous and potentially very unhappy situation, but also not unusual. The death of their daughter, Vera, at age eight by drowning in a neighbor's pool is, of course, tragic, but we come to see it as more a symptom of their marital dysfunction than its cause. Daisy, a 15 year old American bat-out-of-hell, must live with them temporarily when a fire destroys the same neighbors' house. Vera would have been 15. Daisy's stay shocks them into a new perspective. (Parental Warning: this book may increase your appreciation and respect for your difficult 15-year daughter, even when, like Daisy, she says: "I always do what I like anyway.")

Over the first 35 pages (or more) I thought I was not going to like "Love's Death," but it definitely got much more interesting. My bottom line is this: read "Love's Death" if you care to contemplate: 1. relationships and families as they really are, not as they are presented to the world; 2. children as complicating factors in relationships; 3. midlife and aging; 4. the tension between love and control.