Thomas Rosenboom
Thomas Rosenboom (b. 1956) made his debut in 1983 with a collection of short stories called 'De mensen thuis' (Those at Home), for which he received the Van der Hoogt Prize. Two years later he published the novel 'Vriend van verdienste' (An Honourable Friend), based on the true story of a teen homicide.
In 1994 he astonished both critics and readers with Gewassen vlees (Washed Flesh), about the diabolical character William Augustijn van Donck. This was followed by Publieke werken (Public Works, 1999), which describes the tragic downfall of a nineteenth-century pharmacist and a violin maker. Both these novels were awarded the prestigious Libris Literature Prize. Rosenboom further published the novel De nieuwe man (The New Man, 2003), Spitzen (Point Shoes, 2004) and Zoete mond (Sweet Mouth, 2009). Controversial was his essay on the decline of educational standards, Denkend aan Holland (Thoughts About Holland, 2005).
The magic of Rosenboom’s great novels rests on a number of classical literary devices perfectly implemented. The historical backgrounds in his novels are well documented and convincing without getting in the way of the story. He always has an ambitious main character and a riveting plot. In addition, his style is polished and trenchant, and he has a good eye for detail. In a subtle, often cruelly humorous way, his characters are led to inevitable ruin. All this makes his novels real page-turners.
More Thomas Rosenboom
Public Works
'Public Works' is written in a florid style, highly appropriate to the historical period of its setting: the late 19th century. Rosenboom‘s stately prose lends to his novels that slow-moving tempo so essential to their effectiveness, it is this tempo with which the plot unfolds which enables the reader to see disaster coming long before the novel ends, making you want to call out to the characters, to warn them that they are making a terrible mistake.
The Archive
One of the books that featured in several Dutch critics’ end-of-year lists was The Archive. Praised for his precise style and melancholy wit, Thomas Heerma van Voss describes the life of the aspiring editor of a literary magazine who has to say goodbye to his reclusive father.
The Paradise of Sleep
The poet Joost Oomen writes cheerful books. He even manages to spin the tale of a jaded euthanasia doctor who has seen too much into an entertaining, infectious yarn.
Days Like Strange Symptoms
In this unique novel, we see Sisyphus like we’ve never seen him – or rather, her – before. Baerwaldt’s Sisyphus is not the man forced to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity that keeps rolling back, but a modern mother aimlessly wandering around an inhospitable universe, pushing an empty wheelchair.