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Loading... De overlevenden (original 2020; edition 2021)by Alex Schulman, Angélique De Kroon (Translator)
Work InformationThe Survivors by Alex Schulman (2020)
Books Read in 2022 (4,416) READ IN 2022 (133) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I didn't remember putting this book on hold but then saw the author blurb on the top by Fredrik Backman and realize he recommended the book so I just wanted to read it because of that. I think I expected something similar to his writing style and subject but this is very different. It is quite brutal and difficult to read even though it is a short book. It does have a surprise ending that I didn't expect but there was so much violence in this dysfunctional family that I'm not sure it is worth the payoff. I give it 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. ( ) The three brothers, Nils, Benjamin and Pierre, have returned to their summer cottage by the lake twenty years after a tragedy that changed all their lives. They are there to spread the ashes of their mother. After a childhood stained by alcoholism and neglect, each has grown up damaged in some way. The reviews are generally extremely positive for this book but I was not as impressed as many. The story is sad but the jumps between past and present are a little confusing and the narrative messy. The twist is good but not altogether unexpected. I did enjoy some fo the writing and the imagery around the hot summer days remembered is often very good.
Schulman’s spare prose evokes a landscape seen through a child’s eyes, where beauty and terror are inseparable. Awards
"In the wake their mother's death, three estranged brothers return to the lakeside cottage where, over two decades before, an unspeakable accident forever altered their family. There is Nils, the oldest, who couldn't escape his suffocating home soon enough, and Pierre, the youngest, easily bullied and quick to lash out. And then there is Benjamin, always the family's nerve center, perpetually on the look-out for triggers and trap doors in a volatile home where the children were left to fend for themselves, competing for their father's favor and their mother's elusive love. But as the years have unfolded, Benjamin has grown increasingly untethered from reality, frozen in place while life carries on around him. And between the brothers a dangerous current now vibrates. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces? In a thrillingly fast-paced narrative,The Survivors mixes the emotional acuity of Edward St Aubyn, the literary verve of Ian McEwan, and the heart of Shuggie Bain. By brilliantly dissecting a mind unravelling in the wake of tragedy, Alex Schulman reveals the ways in which our deepest loyalties leave us open to the greatest betrayals"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.73Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Swedish literature Swedish fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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