Een neurotische man terroriseert zijn vrouw en studerende dochters, die tegen beter weten in de schijn proberen op te hoiden ( )

Het orgineel van mijn review kan je vinden op mijn blog:
http://www.linda-linea-recta.nl/iedereen-kan-schilderen-door-emma-curvers-een-bo...


...,Ik betrap mezelf erop dat ik ‘s avonds in bed nog met het boek bezig ben en dank mijn ouders voor mijn gelukkige en gezellige jeugd. ( )

In this book, the main character, Iris, describes her family, in which psychiatric problems are common. Her father and mother both suffer from psychiatric problems, which means that the lives of their two daughters are not always easy. Though the daughters have both left home and are studying in a different city, the university holidays in which they return to their parental home form the scene of many strange situations.

I did not really like this novel. The premise is interesting, but the story never drew me in. I think the main problem for me was the writing style: the events are related in a very dry, objective fashion, with no emotion showing. For me, this had a very detaching effect which meant that I couldn't really connect to the novel.
Aside from that, the novel doesn't really build up to anything. It's more of a dry summary of weird things that happen in the family, and you keep waiting for some sort of conclusion or grand finale to occur, but it never does. There is no plot-development or character development, no direction. The novel gives the impression that it works up to some sort of final 'bang', but this bang never comes and the ending is unsatisfactory.
What I did appreciate were the descriptions of the people and their actions. Though, like I mentioned, the descriptions are rather dry and unemotional, it does give an insight into what it's like to live with parents who are 'different'. In their lives, Iris and her sister have learned to tiptoe around her father, who will start destroying things when provoked and sometimes spends days in the bathroom. Aside from that, they feel forced to act like everything is normal and not to give anything away to others. It is interesting to see how difficult living with a psychiatric patient can be, and how this can have a huge impact on children growing up in such a situation. ( )