The Consul General's Wife
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4,7 • 3 beoordelingen
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- € 2,99
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- € 2,99
Beschrijving uitgever
Melchior Steenbergen is leading an idyllic life. An elite member of Holland’s diplomatic corps, he is the Consul General in Rio, with a sweeping view of the Ipanema bay from his official residence, and a beautiful wife 20 years his junior. His trustworthy maid, Mercy, who is from Ghana and has followed him everywhere, attends to his every need. At 59, his time as a diplomat is winding down, but he expects to put one more feather in his cap: an ambassadorship. Paris, perhaps. Doesn't he deserve it?
But Melchior’s glorious world is a façade, a house of cards, and sharp winds are starting to blow.
The Consul General's Wife is the story of a man, elegant and dignified, unable to recognize his own flaws. Set against the mystical and unforgiving city of Rio, the novel is a comedy about a dying generation. And a tragedy about a man who has only a few days left to wake up.
Klantrecensies
Great.
Great book. Everyone should read it. Very special. It is translated from Dutch.
The Consul General's Wife
I'd like to share some testimonials/blurbs other people gave to my novel (instead of pretending to be someone else and writing my own review :)):
Russell Shorto, author and contributing writer of New York Times Magazine:
"The Consul General’s Wife is set in the rarified world of Dutch diplomats, but the expertly drawn characters who inhabit it represent a much broader spectrum of humanity. Urbane, worldly, world-weary, scheming: they seem ultimate creatures of our age. Then again, Aliefka’s Bijlsma’s rich novel calls to mind most of all the work of Graham Greene--which suggests that we are dealing with a category of human experience that is timeless."
Eli Gottlieb, author, NY:
"...the build is slow and steady and the feeling of a kind of brooding, growing perversity is already palpable. SOMETHING is going to happen to these people, and it's not clear what. Meanwhile, the lovely modelling of space-time holds the reader's attentions. It's one of those rare books which seems concentrically arranged around an absence, and this absence functions like a gravitational field of sorts, drawing the reader in. The narrative eye is light, quick, astute."
David Weber, professor in screenwriting at USC and screenwriter, LA.
"Really terrific, and I'm not talking about the translation (though that's good too). I love the tone and the characters. The organization man who's a victim of his own intelligence, good in spite of himself, has always been one I've found intriguing."