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The Evenings
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
22 posts | 16 read | 25 to read
A modern masterpiece, voted the best Dutch novel of all time 'I work in an office. I take cards out of a file. Once I have taken them out, I put them back in again. That is it.' Twenty-three-year-old Frits - office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes - finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit. This is the story of ten evenings in Frits's life at the end of December, as he drinks, smokes, sees friends, aimlessly wanders the gloomy city streets and tries to makes sense of the minutes, hours and days that stretch before him. Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty. Gerard Reve (1923-2006) is considered one of the greatest post-war Dutch authors, and was also the first openly gay writer in the country's history. A complicated and controversial character, Reve is also hugely popular and critically acclaimed- his 1947 debut The Evenings was chosen as one of the nation's 10 favourite books by the readers of a leading Dutch newspaper while the Society of Dutch Literature ranked it as the Netherlands' best novel of all time.
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guinsgirlreads
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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TK-421 Beautiful 💕 4y
20 likes1 comment
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Cathythoughts
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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#MOvember #RayofLight another one unread on the shelf ... a ray of evening light ✨

Cinfhen Sounds promising 👍🏻 4y
LittleBug Oh! Didn‘t know his books have been translated! He‘s a Dutch author, we read his books in school🤓 4y
Velvetfur That sounds wonderful! Sound like an existentialist novel, which is totally my thing - stacked! 👍 4y
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erzascarletbookgasm I remember stacking this after @batsy ‘s review! Can read this for #ReadingEurope2020 ! 4y
batsy @erzascarletbookgasm Yes, it'll be a good one for the challenge 👍🏽 4y
batsy Beautiful pic ❤️ 4y
Tamra Stacked! 4y
Sace I love that cover! 4y
BarbaraBB You can read this one for #ReadingEurope2020. It‘s a Dutch classic! 4y
BarbaraBB O now I notice all has been said yet in the comments above 😊 4y
LeahBergen This sounds so good! 4y
Cathythoughts @Cinfhen 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @LittleBug You read them in school ... that‘s interesting 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @Velvetfur 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm @batsy 👍🏻👍🏻❤️❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @Tamra 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @Sace I do too 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @BarbaraBB 👍🏻❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @LeahBergen it does sound good 👍🏻❤️ 4y
LittleBug @Cathythoughts we read quite a lot in school, between 10 and 20 books per modern language. That was more than 20 years ago though, not sure if it‘s still like that... 4y
65 likes2 stack adds20 comments
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Andrew65
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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#MaeveBinchyBuddyRead #EveningClass

Discussion of Lou Chapter.

Will shortly post the discussion questions for the Lou chapter.

37 likes1 stack add
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Melkyl
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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My view while reading this evening. It‘s lovely and relaxing. I‘ll take it.

BarbaraTheBibliophage Good to see you here—and reading quite a bit. ♥️ 5y
Melkyl @BarbaraTheBibliophage Thank you. It has been a struggle, but I am trying to rediscover the things I love. 5y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Melwilk I don‘t know if I can even fully grasp the struggle. It must just be that immense. I‘m glad you can reach out again to things you love. Enjoy your view and the summer! 5y
42 likes3 comments
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Cathythoughts
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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#MusicalNewYear #MusicoftheNight I still must read this one ... ( has forgotten about it , till I went looking for this prompt.

erzascarletbookgasm Great pic! 5y
Cinfhen Love when prompts reintroduce me to my shelves 😉 5y
TrishB Always! I nearly brought a book yesterday based on a great review and amazon told me I‘d already brought it last September!! 5y
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BarbaraBB It‘s a great book! 5y
Cathythoughts @Cinfhen 👍🏻♥️♥️ 5y
Cathythoughts @TrishB I know ! It‘s crazy 😉 5y
Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm ♥️👍🏻Thankyou 5y
Cathythoughts @BarbaraBB good to hear ♥️👍🏻 5y
erzascarletbookgasm Sounds good, gonna stack it! 5y
JennyM Such a lovely cosy picture ❤️ 5y
vivastory Great picture! 5y
Cathythoughts @JennyM I love winter evenings ✨and summer ones too 😉 5y
Cathythoughts @vivastory thankyou 👍🏻♥️ 5y
69 likes13 comments
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Tove_Reads
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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Cathythoughts I have this one too ... won‘t get to it for awhile yet .. look forward to your thoughts (edited) 5y
gradcat This one sounds very interesting 😊 5y
45 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Emilymdxn
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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I‘ve been so tired recently that i decided to spend all Saturday evening in, saving money and getting an early night. I‘m normally a v extroverted person who likes being out and doing things every weekend but I‘m burnt out, I‘ve been sick and I‘m worried about getting sicker, so decided I‘d stay in with my books and rest. Felt a little lonely but I‘m never really lonely when I have Litsy here 💖💖💖 I‘m burning @quietjenn ‘s lovely scented candle

Suet624 I agree that it‘s hard to feel super lonely when you have Litsy. 5y
Aims42 Enjoy your recharging night! 💗 5y
Emilymdxn @Suet624 @Aims42 it‘s like having a bookish happy place in my pocket all the time ☺️ 5y
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quietjenn I hope that you get the rest and recharging that you need. So glad the candle helps! 5y
BarbaraBB Take care of yourself. To me your evening looks lovely! 5y
gradcat Hope you get better soon! 5y
45 likes6 comments
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Carolyn11215
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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I just got thoroughly spoiled by my amazing #litsypenpal @Dulcinella ! A famous Dutch novel described as “the funniest, most exhilarating novel about boredom ever written,” a gorgeous Edgar Degas (one of my fave painters!) ballerina bookmark, an adorable cat metal bookmark and a yummy Cote D‘Or candy bar. European chocolate is the best!! @Dulcinella thank you for making the start of my week so lovely after a very difficult weekend! Email coming.

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batsy
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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#NewFavoriteCharacters #AllTheBooksof2017

There are more, but I narrowed it down to four favourite characters:

The melancholy, witty and irreverent Lazi in Qiu Miaojin's Notes of a Crocodile; the fiercely feminist and razor sharp Helen Graham in Anne Brontë's Wildfell Hall; Grandmother in Tove Jansson's Summer Book, so wry and introspective and wise; Frits van Egters in Gerard Reve's The Evenings, a bleakly hilarious and absurd nihilist.

BarbaraBB Frits van Egters! I am so surprised you read this book. It is famous here, but rather old. When I grew up everyone read it but my kids have never even heard of it. Frits is great though 👍 6y
LeahBergen Oh, yes... that grandmother! 💕💕 6y
batsy That's fascinating @BarbaraBB , I believe it was translated into English for the first time, hence the "discovery" of Reve among English-speaking readers. It is such a strange and memorable book, I'm so glad I read it. 6y
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batsy @LeahBergen I still think about her 🙂❤️ 6y
Centique Ok had to stack them all! 😋👍 6y
batsy @Centique To borrow a term from the British Littens, Crocodile and Evenings could be considered "Marmite books" ? Would love to hear your thoughts if you give any of these a try ? 6y
Centique Ooh we have marmite too! I‘m a vegemite fan myself 😋 But you have definitely intrigued me. 6y
79 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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MrBook
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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Today's author spotlight: Gerard (Kornelis van het) Reve! Born in Amsterdam, he died in Zulte, Belgium, in 2006 from Alzheimer's at 82. He's considered one of "the Great Three" of Dutch post-war lit. His themes concerned homosexuality, religion (he was Roman Catholic), & communism. The Dutch government banned his work at one point. In 2001, the King refused to present to him the country's highest literary award. #AuthorPotpourri #TheMoreYouKnow

KaatjeH Gerard Reve is one of those writers they teach you about in highschool. They tell you about his importance for Dutch litarature, but I don't think I know anyone who actually read his work. I certainly never dared to start reading 'De Avonden' 😳 7y
Leftcoastzen Damn , Mr. Book !My education regarding Dutch authors is clearly lacking ! Now I got to find some of his books. 7y
MrBook Lol @Leftcoastzen , we'll learn together. 😁👍🏻 7y
batsy @MrBook @Leftcoastzen The Evenings is very good! 👍 If you're into bleak, existential humour 😬 7y
Leftcoastzen @batsy that's my sweet spot! 7y
59 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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Aliking1986
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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Panpan

I wanted to love this book but I failed on an epic scale. I found the protagonist impossible to relate with and difficult to like. The style in which it was written alienated me as a reader and more than once I considered bailing on this book because I didn't think I had it in me to continue. Not for me.

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batsy
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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Pickpick

One of the funniest books about ennui and existential despair set in post-war Amsterdam. A man in his early twenties lives day-to-day in fear of silence and time wasted, and fills up his evenings with boring conversations with family and friends that he then tries to escape from. Neither here nor there is happy or satisfying. A bleak, bitter humour runs through the narrative. "Whatever ordeals are yet to come, I am alive." #LitsyAtoZ

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Anjuk
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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Pickpick

It's about 10 evenings leading up to a new year spent by Frits van Egters , the 23-year-old nihilist in postwar Amsterdam. It depicts the listlessness and boredom experienced by that generation in a humourous way.

Anjuk "Imagine New Year‘s Eve were to fall on a Saturday? God preserve us. Still, it can happen. Or can‘t it? Yes, it must work out that way, once every few years.” 7y
1 like1 comment
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charl08
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
Mehso-so

This is, apparently, a Dutch classic. I have no idea why.

charl08 I would like to know! 7y
enidkeaner Aww, this is on my list of upcoming reads 7y
charl08 @enidkeaner so far reasons for classic status include that it's similar to angry young men in UK (rejection of wartime generation). Also hated by many who had to study it at school! 7y
enidkeaner Hm. That bodes well for me- I was the weirdo who enjoyed 90 percent of what I had to read in school. 7y
charl08 @enidkeaner fingers crossed then! 7y
32 likes5 comments
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charl08
The Evenings | Gerard Reve

sitting watching the (very early) winter sunset...

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shawnmooney
The Evenings | Gerard Reve
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A 1947 Dutch novel newly translated into English. Sounds interesting!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/09/the-evenings-by-gerard-reve-review

Hobbinol I am so on board with this one! Thank you so much!!! 7y
Hobbinol Stacked and preordered! 7y
Hobbinol Got my copy yesterday ❗️ Now if I just had the extra evenings in which to read it❗️ 7y
shawnmooney @Hobbinol Great! If you end up liking it, I'll definitely give it a try too. 7y
30 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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Rhondareads
The Evenings | Gerard Reve

I loved this novel Frits is quirky funny sad enter his world his running commentary about his parents who he in his twenties still live with.Visit his friends his brother his obsession with warning his brother that he is going bald.Just follow him as he lives his daily life you will be charmed.

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