BOOK: Two Women - Harry Mulisch

Title: Twee Vrouwen (Two Women)
Author: Harry Mulisch
Genre: Romance
Publisher: De Bezige Bij 1975
Pages: Paperback, 131
Language: Dutch
Rating: 7,5/10

Summary: Laura, whose husband left her for another woman, meets Sylvia, a young woman from the provinces: they become lovers. The relationship soon strains under the weight of their differences in upbringing, age and education.

Review
Published for ‘The Netherlands is reading 2008’, this book was handed out at libraries for free, so we as a nation could read and discuss it. Obviously there was a lot of media-attention for it, which is usually a reason for me to avoid a book. I’m not a member of the library because I prefer to keep the books I read, but my mom got an extra copy and despite my dislike of Harry Mulisch (I was rather disappointed with the ending of ‘The Discovery Of Heaven’) I decided to give it a go. Once again I learned that my preconceptions often prevent me from discovering beauty. *slaps head* While reading it I knew why Mr. Mulisch is considered one of our great writers; his language and story-structure is simply brilliant. Again the ending fell a bit short for me, but I enjoyed getting there immensely.