Blauwe maandagen (edition 1994)

by Arnon Grunberg

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
660	9	35,007	(2.97)	10
This novel's protagonist - who also happens to be called Arnon Grunberg - is a man on the run. Expelled from school, uneasy with his family, he spends his days and nights living a vagabond's life on the streets of Amsterdam.

▾Book information

Member:	bookomaniac
Title:	Blauwe maandagen
Authors:	Arnon Grunberg
Info:	Amsterdam Nijgh en Van Ditmar 1994
Collections:	Read but unowned
Rating:
Tags:	Nederlandse literatuur

Work Information

Blue Mondays by Arnon Grunberg

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Dutch (6) English (3) All languages (9)

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Horrible, depressing book about a young man who, apparently, doesn't know love due to his tragic youth. Yuck. (

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jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |

Most readers seem to say something like "I didn't enjoy this, but I can understand why other people like it" — I was going to say something like that as well, but I have a suspicion that the only person who really got any pleasure out of this book is Arnon Grunberg. It's clever, often witty, and written with careful attention to nuances of language, but it's about 270 pages too long(*).

It's the semi-autobiographical story of an unpleasant, self-hating teenager who grows up to have the sort of self-centered, wasteful adult life that unpleasant, self-hating teenagers fantasise about, spending his time drinking, hanging around with people who hang around in bars, and having sex with prostitutes, none of which seems to give him any pleasure at all. Maybe it's meant to be a witty illustration of how hard it is to be a rebel when nothing is really forbidden, but it felt more like a sustained whinge about how terrible life is from someone who had never bothered to try to do anything to change that.

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(*) My copy has 271 pages of text (

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thorold | Sep 28, 2020 |

Typically Dutch literature with too much (paid) sex in my opinion, a theme to be found among young Dutch writers in the '90s. The main charachter suffers from a lack of love and is unable to love himself. His father dies, after a long teenager, when he's a teenager. His mother is strange and still suffers from the War (it's a jewish family). Part of the story is autobiographical, I'm just wondering which part. This book didn't convince me to read more by Grunberg, but maybe his later work is better.

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2009/12/blauwe-maandagen.html (

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boekenwijs | Dec 21, 2009 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Arnon Grunberg	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Pomerans, Arnold	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Pomerans, Erica	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

De beste debuutromans (1)

detebe (23128)

Grote lijsters (2001.3)

Schrijvers van nu

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Anton Wachterprijs (1994)

Dublin Literary Award (Longlist – 1999)

Gouden Ezelsoor (1996)

Notable Lists

Top 100 van de Nederlandse literatuur van de 20e eeuw

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Blue Mondays

Original title

Blauwe Maandagen

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1994-05-??

People/Characters

Important places

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Netherlands

North Holland, The Netherlands

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Waarom de Eenhoorn...

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Dutch

Canonical DDC/MDS

839.31367

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

This novel's protagonist - who also happens to be called Arnon Grunberg - is a man on the run. Expelled from school, uneasy with his family, he spends his days and nights living a vagabond's life on the streets of Amsterdam.

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Book description

Blauwe maandagen is de onthutsende debuutroman van Arnon Grunberg (1971). Een zoektocht naar de liefde: ouderliefde versus betaalde liefde. Bekroond met de Anton Wachter-prijs. En het Gouden Ezelsoor."Een groteske komedie,een zeldzaamheid in de Nederlandse literatuur." - NRC Handelsblad"Een schitterende debuutroman."- Süddeutsche Zeitung"Een van die zeldzame, verrassende boeken waarvan je bijna tranen in je ogen van het lachen krijgt." - Il Manifesto"Een openhartig, zelfironisch en waanzinnig humoristisch boek. Zó grappig, dat de lach een grimas wordt."- Det Fri Aktuelt"Zijn stijl is - niet zonder reden - wel vergeleken met die van de films van Woody Allen. Net als bij Woody Allen is het niet alleen maar slapstickhumor, want direct daaronder ligt datgene waar het allemaal om draait: eenzaamheid, contactgestoordheid en het allesdoordringende gevoel van zinloosheid." - Information"Een illusieloos relaas over seksuele avonturen, door een verteller die de tienerjaren nauwelijks achter zich heeft gelaten, blijkt bij iedere bladzij verder uit te steken boven de puberaal-erotische standaardkost... brutaal en per saldo een winner." - Jeffrey Eugenides"Wanneer Arnon Grunberg weer zal spreken, zal ik luisteren. - The Boston Globe

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