R.I.P. Challenge books #3 and 4
These two books were rather a disappointment. I don't have much to say about Erken mij by Esther Verhoef. It was given out as a freebie during last year's "month of the thrilling book", held every June, and has not been, and will most likely never be, translated into English.
Although the prologue was promising, I didn't care for what followed. It turned out to be about rape and its aftermath, which is a subject I try to avoid. Fortunately it wasn't too graphic and at 91 pages it was a quick read.
1/5
I bought A.M. Homes' The End of Alice at the time because I thought the title might be a reference to Alice in Wonderland, editions of which I collected, and sure enough the book opens with a Lewis Carroll quote: "A stopped clock is right twice a day." Apart from that, the only other reference I can think of is that the book's protagonist is a paedophile infatuated with a young girl called Alice.
I knew beforehand that the book's subject matter is controversial: a paedophile murderer in his 23rd year in prison strikes up a correspondence with a nineteen-year-old girl who is planning on seducing a twelve-year-old boy. That didn't put me off, but what did were the numerous descriptions of disgusting smells and revolting things that people ate. When it literally made me retch I decided, at around page 100, to call it a day and skipped forward to find out the ending. I am such a wimp.
DNF
The good news is that I have now finished all the titles on my provisional list and also achieved my goal of freeing up some shelf space. The bad news is that I couldn't resist the lure of the Kinderboekenweek ("children's book week") and bought two books yesterday! And received another free book as well! I am incorrigible. The good news is that I'm very happy with my acquisitions. And since the good outweighs the bad, I am not sorry.
There are still over two weeks left before the end of the R.I.P. Challenge. The free booklet looks like a fun read, I think I'll use it as a palate cleanser before deciding upon another Challenge book.