The Sorrow of Belgium is a portrait of a wartime Belgium and one boy's coming of age -- emotionally, sexually, and politically. Louis struggles through the trials of adolescence in occupied Belgium between 1939 and 1947. His family is staunchly Flemish and willingly collaborates with the Germans. Through it all is the tension between the Flemish and French linguistic and cultural traditions of Belgium.Amy came back to add: "Ironically enough, to celebrate the book's 25th anniversary, there was a reading marathon of it held in my town (Leuven) just last weekend."
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UPDATES: Amy said, "I have sad news: Hugo Claus died today. Here is the link to my post on this." You'll find Amy's review on her blog.
Samantha said, "If anyone's interested, here's my review for the book, the first one of my travel around the world." Bonnie added, "When I went to read her review, I discovered she has a list of books she plans to read for 31 countries of Western Europe. Thanks, Samantha, both the review and the list are helpful to the rest of us.
6 comments:
Thanks Bonnie! I would be more than happy to write some comments about the book, but I think it is only fair that I re-read it, as it has been 18 years since I last read it :) Last night after I posted the comment about it to you, I got it off my shelf (blowing off the dust!) and had a fresh look it, and it is very thick - so it may take me a little while! Ironically enough, to celebrate the book's 25th anniversary, there was a reading marathon of it held in my town (Leuven) just last weekend.
Don't you just love coincidences like that?
This one sounds really good! I added it to my TBR.
Thanks
I have sad news: Hugo Claus died today. Here is the link to my post on this: http://considerationofbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/hugo-claus-1929-2008.html
Here is my little "report" on The Sorrow of Belgium:
http://considerationofbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/hugo-claus-sorrow-of-belgium.html
It has been a great opportunity to re-read this novel, and very moving to be doing it at the time the author passed away.
If anyone's interested, here's my review for the book, the first one of my travel around the world: http://bookwormsandtea.blogspot.com/2008/05/sorrow-of-belgium.html
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