Felt a bit like a more good-natured Céline—with fewer (maybe no) ellipses. ( )

Viel erg tegen bij herlezing. Is een aaneenschakeling van (heel) korte oorlogsanekdotes, al dan niet verzonnen. Voegt weinig toe aan wat je al over de oorlog weet en er is geen sprake van enige verbeelding die zou maken dat je je direct betrokken voelt. Niet meer dan een overbodig pamflet. ( )

My Little War is a slim novel that fictionalizes daily life in German occupied Belgium and the arrival of the Allied Forces during World War II. Each chapter reads as a separate entry of the people and events that occurred around the writer. Snippets of overheard conversations are tagged on at the end of chapters, giving the book a slightly voyeuristic quality to it. We learn of neighbors whose viewpoints on the war are as flighty and shifting as the breeze along with any political allegiances, others who are starving and steal coal to sell to survive and business that are selling supplies to the occupying Germans and profiting in the process. The story is written with an abrupt, in your face approach to story telling - as if the author is stating facts he expects the reader to accept. The writer makes no apologies for any discomfort his stories may bring to the reader while venting his outrage at these events and it was his sharp sarcastic tone that leaped from the pages and keep me reading.

This book was originally published in 1947. A second revised, expanded and 'toned down' version was then published in 1960. The notes provided by the translator states he chose the 1960 edition for this translation, even though he understands that the 1960 edition was viewed with criticism by some in Flanders as a compromise to Boon's youthful revolutionary principles. That makes me wish I was able to read the original 1947 text. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be an English translation of that text that I am aware of. I would be curious to compare the two, if and when the opportunity arises. ( )