This book is shortlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature--but it was written/published in Dutch c1982. This is relevant to both the view of a lesbian relationship as viewed by characters in this story (though of course any individual might still hold those views, despite the illegality of lgbt descrimination (since 2015 per equaldex.com). Obviously there are no cell phones and really no technology as we commonly think of it either (cell phones, computers, etc).

I found this book fascinating if also confusing--it looks at feminism, misogyny, patriarchy, family, relationships of many kinds, love, talent, expectations, race, religion, orchids, and more, in Suriname. It jumps around in time--narrator Noenka remembers back to her childhood, or to stories her mother told about her marriage.

After just 9 days of marriage, Noenka wants a divorce from Louis. He refuses. So Noenka tries to forge her own path, disrupting family expectations but staying true to herself. She moves, she lives with relatives, with men, she rents a room in a rooming house, then in Gabrielle's house.

As the story moves forward it also looks backward--and this is where I got confused. We meet Ramses in the present, and then Ramses the baby. We learn about Noenka's mother's marriage. We learn about Gabrielle and Evert's two children. Much of the novel, though, is told using pronouns. The chapters are long, and though there are breaks, I was often unclear about who the pronouns were referring to--who is he, and she? "I" the narrator is Noenka, but the I speaking in quotation marks can be anyone.

The book felt like a fever dream to me, sometimes clear and sometimes confusing. It moves from hot and sensual to illness, blindness, death. Forward and back in time. Flooding, a lush greenhouse, an institution.

When I finished, I went back and re-read the beginning. The postscript is at the front of the book, and made more sense. I think reading this twice might be needed to get the full meaning. But I enjoyed the tropical climate, the fever dream feeling of the whole book.

Also, I wondered if the yellow room, the yellow dress, was a reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman.This book is shortlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature--but it was written/published in Dutch c1982. This is relevant to both the view of a lesbian relationship as viewed by characters in this story (though of course any individual might still hold those views, despite the illegality of lgbt descrimination (since 2015 per equaldex.com). Obviously there are no cell phones and really no technology as we commonly think of it either (cell phones, computers, etc).

I found this book fascinating if also confusing--it looks at feminism, misogyny, patriarchy, family, relationships of many kinds, love, talent, expectations, race, religion, orchids, and more, in Suriname. It jumps around in time--narrator Noenka remembers back to her childhood, or to stories her mother told about her marriage.

After just 9 days of marriage, Noenka wants a divorce from Louis. He refuses. So Noenka tries to forge her own path, disrupting family expectations but staying true to herself. She moves, she lives with relatives, with men, she rents a room in a rooming house, then in Gabrielle's house.

As the story moves forward it also looks backward--and this is where I got confused. We meet Ramses in the present, and then Ramses the baby. We learn about Noenka's mother's marriage. We learn about Gabrielle and Evert's two children. Much of the novel, though, is told using pronouns. The chapters are long, and though there are breaks, I was often unclear about who the pronouns were referring to--who is he, and she? "I" the narrator is Noenka, but the I speaking in quotation marks can be anyone.

The book felt like a fever dream to me, sometimes clear and sometimes confusing. It moves from hot and sensual to illness, blindness, death. Forward and back in time. Flooding, a lush greenhouse, an institution.

When I finished, I went back and re-read the beginning. The postscript is at the front of the book, and made more sense. I think reading this twice might be needed to get the full meaning. But I enjoyed the tropical climate, the fever dream feeling of the whole book.
Also, I wondered if the yellow room, the yellow dress, was a reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The "madness" is just as contrived, if I understand these stories. ( )