De kraai

Engaging, warm and ironic little story, exploring exile and migration from the eccentric point of view of an Iranian refugee, now a coffee dealer in Amsterdam, who's as hopelessly in love with the classics of Dutch literature as he is with the poetry of the country where he was born.

Siamo alle solite: ho dei problemi coi libri corti.
Bello bello, ma poi finisce subito, così.
La scrittura è molto scarna e "semplice" ma l'impatto che produce è molto forte. In soldoni, è la storia parzialmente autobiografica di un uomo che dall'Iran scappa per motivi politici e finisce in Olanda.
Pieno di bellissime riflessioni sia sulla propria patria, sulla scrittura, sul motivo per cui scrive e sull'essere un emigrato, uno straniero.

3,5 ma non mi posso spingere oltre perché mi ha lasciato con la voglia. Sicuramente autore da investigare.

When I read the first few lines, I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes, to make sure I was holding the right book and really reading what I thought I was reading...

The book starts more or less the same as Max Havelaar by Multatuli. It also has the same build. And I happen to have read that one (years ago for my Dutch literature class).

I liked this little book by Kader Abdolah. It is well constructed, interesting, not only because of the many pointings to other literate works (Max Havelaar being only one of them, there are poems in the book as well), but also because of the contents.
A mix of present and past of a fugitive / asylum seeker. For me, not knowing anything about Abdolah's past but that he's from Iran, it is not possible to show more determine whether it is autobiographic or not, or maybe just a little.

I have more books on my shelf by him and after readig this one, I've gotten VERY curious! show less

A short novel telling the story of an Iranian migrant making his way in the Netherlands as a seller of coffee.

Lovely story giving an interesting view of life as a migrant and how to make your way in a new country.
I particularly love the way in which Abdolah uses the set up of the famous novel 'Max Havelaar' and makes this great Dutch literary work his own. The story contains a mixture of elements from Dutch and Persian literary traditions, making it a very nice read.

This years ‘week of the book’ is about writer (auto-)biographies, and the gift is written by Dutch-Iranian writer Kader Abdolah. The story of De kraai (The Crow) is about a refugee from Iran who lives in Amsterdam and tells about his life and how he became a writer, first in Persian, later in Dutch.
The book is short, only 91 pages (all bookweek gifts are) but the story doesn’t feel rushed. It is a very nicely written story, describing the beauty of Iran, the hardships of the flight and the life in The Netherlands well without being able to go into detail.

This book is the present of the "Boekenweek" (book week), a yearly promotion week (ehh, 10 days) for books, always wirtten by a polular Dutch writer (with the exception some 10 years ago, when Salmon Rushdi wrote it).

Abdolah is a refugee from Iran, but writes in Dutch. Like most of his stories, this one also involves this refugee history. The story of an Iranian-Dutch writer who also sells coffee, is told. I'm wondering how much of the story is autobiographical. I guess the book is a combination of this and some famous Dutch literature, mentioned by quotes.

This author will never be my favourite, but it's a nice little book.

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2011/04/de-kraai.html

READ IN DUTCH

Dit was het boekenweekgeschenk van 2011. Ik had nog nooit iets van Kader Abdolah gelezen, maar was wel al een tijdje benieuwd. Nu is een boekenweekgeschenk voor mij nooit echt een goede graadmeter, aangezien ik niet bijzonder van korte verhalen hou (geef mij gerust maar een dikke pil van een 1000 ofzo pagina's).

Maar dit verhaal was best leuk om te lezen. De schrijfstijl vond ik wel prettig en ik denk dat ik in de toekomst nog wel eens iets van Abdolah wil gaan lezen. (Als ik er ooit de tijd voor vind natuurlijk.)