461. The Garden Where the Brass Band Played

The Garden Where the Brass Band Played

Simon Vestdijk

1950
Around 310 pages

We are officially in the 1950s!! And we are having a rather lackluster kick off with another novel so obscure, it does not warrant a Wikipedia page. On the other hand, the characters are so firmly rooted in the 1950s, it serves as an excellent introduction to how fucked up this decade was. Hurray.

Nol is obsessed with Trix, a girl he danced with once when he was eight. He's so obsessed with her, that he wants to meet all four men she's slept with in her time. Because of her number,  which apparently is astronomical, Trix is the scandal of the town. People in the past must have been so bored. The only man that Trix is sort of still involved with is Vellinga, who Nol suspects of dosing Trix's drink and raping her. In the 1950s, this is considered caddish behavior.

By now, I am no stranger to reading stories where a man is fixated on a woman, who is barely a person in her own right. Trix is a particularly frustrating example, she does a complete 180 by the end of the novel for no apparent reason. I understand that Vestdijk was trying to invoke a sense of nostalgia, but I was too distracted by the irredeemable behavior of his characters to appreciate it.

Skippable, hopefully the 1950s will have a sudden Trix-inspired turn around.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Vestdijk was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature fifteen times. Always the bridesmaid...

UP NEXT: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov