Childhood by Gerard Reve
There will be a club. Important messages have been sent already. If anybody wants to ruin it, he will be punished. Eleven-year-old Elmer inhabits a childhood of superstition, private lore and secret societies that only certain friends can join (and of which he is always president). When a new boy, pale, spindly Werther, arrives in the neighbourhood, a subtle game of fascination and persecution begins. In wartime Amsterdam, a young boy watches as Germans occupy the city. At first his parents' friends, the Boslowits family, think they have little to fear. Then, slowly, terribly, their fate is sealed. In these two haunting novellas from the acclaimed author of The Evenings, the world of childhood, in all its magic and strangeness, darkness and cruelty, is evoked with piercing wit and dreamlike intensity. Here, the things seen through a child's eyes are far from innocent.
"Profoundly unsettling. . haunt[s] the mind for long afterwards." — The Sunday Times, A Book of the Year
"These two posthumously published novellas by the Dutch writer Gerard Reve, skilfully translated by Sam Garrett, show he was capable of enormous and often unsettling power." — Observer
"In a distinctive voice that captures childish incomprehension while still conveying what is missed by the still immature mind, the two works collected in Childhood are dark and even unpleasant, but both strong and impressive." — Complete Review
"Enthralling… tales of the joys and pains of life that linger in the mind." — Financial Times
"Expertly translated." — The National
"[H]umorous yet wrenching. . . Reve paints a devastating, terrifying portrait of a pivotal era. Together, these two novellas showcase the author’s excellent range." — Publishers Weekly
"Sam Garrett’s precise and convincing translations ... capture the consistently anxious, suggestive, and haunting tone that runs through The Evenings like a live wire—one that, after seventy years, is still electrifying. The narrators of The Fall of the Boslowits Family and Werther Nieland, too, are persuasively rendered in the matter-of-fact and dreamlike tones of the originals." — Philip Huff, New York Review of Books
"I certainly can’t find enough good things to say about Childhood… wonderfully evocative... Excellently translated by Sam Garrett, this is a gem of a book and highly recommended." — Shiny New Books
"An incredibly compelling depiction of wartime… beautiful cover design." — Pendora Magazine
One of first five Books to Look Out For in November — Life in Books (blog)
"In a distinctive voice that captures childish incomprehension while still conveying what is missed by the still immature mind, the two works collected in Childhood are dark and even unpleasant, but both strong and impressive." — Asymptote Journal
"Reve has a gift for contorting innocence into something sinister… beautifully artworked… an excellent Christmas present for the discerning literature lovers in your life." — Hits the Fan (blog)
Praise for The Evenings -
• "A masterpiece... What can I say that will put this book where it belongs, in readers' hands and minds?... Reve keeps the reader breathless right through to the grand finale - Tim Parks, Guardian
• "A masterwork of comic pathos... one of the finest studies of youthful malaise ever written... Should cause many readers to revise their opinions of The Catcher in the Rye. In all fairness to Salinger, The Evenings is so much better - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
• "Like BS Johnson and Kafka wandering the crepuscular streets of 1940s Amsterdam together - in a good way" Alex Preston, Observer Books of the Year 2016
• "The funniest, most exhilarating novel about boredom ever written. If The Evenings had appeared in English in the 1950s, it would have become every bit as much a classic as On the Road and The Catcher in the Rye." Herman Koch, author of The Dinner
"These two posthumously published novellas by the Dutch writer Gerard Reve, skilfully translated by Sam Garrett, show he was capable of enormous and often unsettling power." — Observer
"In a distinctive voice that captures childish incomprehension while still conveying what is missed by the still immature mind, the two works collected in Childhood are dark and even unpleasant, but both strong and impressive." — Complete Review
"Enthralling… tales of the joys and pains of life that linger in the mind." — Financial Times
"Expertly translated." — The National
"[H]umorous yet wrenching. . . Reve paints a devastating, terrifying portrait of a pivotal era. Together, these two novellas showcase the author’s excellent range." — Publishers Weekly
"Sam Garrett’s precise and convincing translations ... capture the consistently anxious, suggestive, and haunting tone that runs through The Evenings like a live wire—one that, after seventy years, is still electrifying. The narrators of The Fall of the Boslowits Family and Werther Nieland, too, are persuasively rendered in the matter-of-fact and dreamlike tones of the originals." — Philip Huff, New York Review of Books
"I certainly can’t find enough good things to say about Childhood… wonderfully evocative... Excellently translated by Sam Garrett, this is a gem of a book and highly recommended." — Shiny New Books
"An incredibly compelling depiction of wartime… beautiful cover design." — Pendora Magazine
One of first five Books to Look Out For in November — Life in Books (blog)
"In a distinctive voice that captures childish incomprehension while still conveying what is missed by the still immature mind, the two works collected in Childhood are dark and even unpleasant, but both strong and impressive." — Asymptote Journal
"Reve has a gift for contorting innocence into something sinister… beautifully artworked… an excellent Christmas present for the discerning literature lovers in your life." — Hits the Fan (blog)
Praise for The Evenings -
• "A masterpiece... What can I say that will put this book where it belongs, in readers' hands and minds?... Reve keeps the reader breathless right through to the grand finale - Tim Parks, Guardian
• "A masterwork of comic pathos... one of the finest studies of youthful malaise ever written... Should cause many readers to revise their opinions of The Catcher in the Rye. In all fairness to Salinger, The Evenings is so much better - Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
• "Like BS Johnson and Kafka wandering the crepuscular streets of 1940s Amsterdam together - in a good way" Alex Preston, Observer Books of the Year 2016
• "The funniest, most exhilarating novel about boredom ever written. If The Evenings had appeared in English in the 1950s, it would have become every bit as much a classic as On the Road and The Catcher in the Rye." Herman Koch, author of The Dinner
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. The first English translation of his masterpiece The Evenings shipped more than 20,000 copies in the UK and was a three-time book of the year in 2016.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781782274582 |
| ISBN 10 | 1782274588 |
| Title | Childhood |
| Author | Gerard Reve |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Pushkin Press |
| Year published | 2018-11-01 |
| Number of pages | 160 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |