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The Discovery of Heaven

by Harry Mulisch, Paul Vincent (Translation)

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 3,882 ratings · 218 reviews

The Discovery of Heaven, Harry Mulisch's magnum opus, is a rich mosaic of twentieth-century trauma in which many themes— friendship, loyalty, family, art, technology, religion, fate, good, and evil— suffuse a suspenseful and resplendent narrative. The story begins with the meeting of Onno and Max, two complicated individuals whom fate has mysteriously and magically brought...more

Paperback, 730 pages

Published November 1st 1997 by Penguin Books Ltd (first published 1992)

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Oct 01, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dutch

An ambitious book. Intending to cover EVERYTHING. So the main characters are all polymaths, well-read but otherwise shallow, symbols really. And they're male too. Oh, there are females characters, but they conceive and then get felled by a lightning-struck tree; or they sneak in a younger man's bedroom and then leave in the morning without speaking. Although, in gender-fairness, a male can be sitting, about to uncover the secret to the universe, and a meteorite comes out of the sky and pulverize...more

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Oct 24, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a magnificent book! Despite the hubris of Mulisch in incorporating large swatches of his autobiography into the fabric of this literary counterpane, he uses those elements well to contribute to the coherent pattern of the work. This is a novel of ideas, which is also an engaging narrative filled with humor. For those readers willing to work their way through the 730 pages, the reward will be worth the time spent, and the time spent will be the reward. The book provides devastating criticism...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Michael Hall rated it 5 of 5 stars

No mere summary could cover the depths to be found within this novel. Trying to summarize it would not give justice to it's brilliance and complexity. It is not a book to be taken lightly as it requires time to be set aside for it. You will need to want to be challenged as well as entertained before beginning this book. At only 730 pages it still took me three weeks and some odd days to read. Not because it was slow and boring, but because it often distracted me enough to put the book down in or...more

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Jun 22, 2007 Lily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: literary folk

Shelves: suggested-by-a-friend

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't understand a lot of the metaphysical aspects of this book. It was recommended to me by a dutch dude that was staying at the same campground in Italy as I was. He said it was the most famous book in Holland. From what I remember, it starts with the relationship between two friends as they vie for the same woman. The woman gets pregnant by one man, and the other raises the child as his own. The undercurrent of this story is the fact that the family of one o...more

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May 08, 2013 Sini rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jaren geleden las ik dit boek al, en toen vond ik het best goed en onderhoudend. Nu heb ik het herlezen, en verdorie, nu vind ik het gewoon GEWELDIG en misschien wel Mulisch' allerbeste. Nu begrijp ik pas waarom veel mensen dit Mulisch' magnum opus vinden. Het boek is nu voor mij veel rijker dan de eerste keer, misschien omdat ik inmiddels een hele kilo Mulisch gelezen heb en hem dus beter snap. Ik heb die eerste keer echt allerlei dingen niet meegekregen die ik nu wel meekreeg. Daarnaast had ik...more Jaren geleden las ik dit boek al, en toen vond ik het best goed en onderhoudend. Nu heb ik het herlezen, en verdorie, nu vind ik het gewoon GEWELDIG en misschien wel Mulisch' allerbeste. Nu begrijp ik pas waarom veel mensen dit Mulisch' magnum opus vinden. Het boek is nu voor mij veel rijker dan de eerste keer, misschien omdat ik inmiddels een hele kilo Mulisch gelezen heb en hem dus beter snap. Ik heb die eerste keer echt allerlei dingen niet meegekregen die ik nu wel meekreeg. Daarnaast had ik ook wel baat bij het rommelige maar informatieve boekje Harry Mulisch ontdekt van Frans de Rover, dat mij dingen liet zien die ik ook bij herlezing had gemist, en bij de vierdelige recensie van Carel Peeters (op internet).

Het boek buitelt van ingewikkelde en rijke bespiegelingen over de theologie, astronomie, hieroglyphen, alchemie, muziek, architectuur en kunst. Die bespiegelingen zijn soms redelijk duizelingwekkend en (voor mij) onnavolgbaar, maar ook fascinerend en soms zelfs ontroerend. Ik ben behoorlijk agnostisch, maar ik snap de schoonheid en verlokking die uitgaat van het motief van het aloude geloof in de 'muziek der sferen' of de 'oerharmonie van het heelal'. Zeker zoals Mulisch het opschrijft. Ik ben een totale alfa, maar ik snap de fascinatie van natuurwetenschappers voor de oerknal en voor alles wat te maken heeft met het ontstaan van ons heelal. Zoals ik ook de fascinatie begrijp voor de oneindigheid van het heelal, voor sterrenlicht dat miljoenen lichtjaren erover doet om ons te bereiken, voor zwarte gaten, enzovoort enzovoort. Zeker zoals Mulisch het opschrijft. En dus raakte ik helemaal verslingerd aan Quintens peilloze dromen over b.v. fantastische, door het goddelijke of het onbewuste ingeblazen architectuur, met eindeloze gangen en trappen die de wetten van de zwaartekracht tarten. Onmogelijke architectuur eigenlijk, waarin a.h.w. een vorm gezocht wordt voor de niet te bevatten (en in die zin even 'onmogelijke') oerharmonie van het heelal. Zoals ik ook helemaal verslingerd raakte aan alle passages over onmogelijke meetkundige figuren of ondoorgrondelijke codes, en aan alle tantaliserende raadsels waarmee de personages worden geconfronteerd. Ik hou van literatuur die mijn verwondering voedt, en in De ontdekking van de hemel doet Mulisch dat op wel heel ijzersterke manier.

Het is ook nog eens een momumentaal verhaal over een vriendschap: Max Delius is een alter ego van Mulisch, Onno Quist is een evenbeeld van Mulisch' boezemvriend Jan Hein Donner, zodat dit boek ook een (ironisch) zelfportret is EN een monument voor Mulisch' gestorven vriend. En Quinten - in feite de zoon van Max en Onno, hoe paradoxaal dat ook lijken moge- is weer een aanstekelijk (vervormd) portret van de 17-jarige enthousiasteling die Mulisch tot zijn dood is gebleven: de briljante jongeling die op eigen wijze zijn weg zoek in kunst, filosofie, wetenschap en het occulte en die met jongensachtige onbevangenheid het onmogelijke najaagt. En dat leidt dan weer tot retespannende Dan Brown-achtige of Umberto Eco-achtige plotwendingen, met de verloren gewaande 'ark des verbonds' en de oorspronkelijke Stenen Tafelen (met daarop de door Mozes zelf opgeschreven tien geboden) als inzet.

Het verhaal is te ingewikkeld om na te vertellen, en bovendien zou het flauw zijn om stukken van de plot te verklappen. Maar een van de kernmotieven (dat staat al op de flaptekst, dus ik verklap niks) is dat twee engelen in feite via Quinten (en Onno, en Max) de Stenen Tafelen terug willen krijgen, omdat zij het verbond met de mensheid willen opzeggen. Dit omdat de mensheid (volgens de engelen) alle moraal heeft verloren en omdat de mens helemaal is gedomineerd door de techniek en daardoor zijn ziel verloren heeft. Die nogal pessimistische visie doordesemt ook het verhaalverloop: bijvoorbeeld in de bespiegelingen van Max over Auschwitz (de plek waar zijn moeder is vergast, de plek ook die samen met andere voor Max cruciale plaatsen een raadselachtige geometrische figuur laat zien), in het verraad dat de vriendschap tussen Max en Onno aantast, in Onno's wanhoop over alom groeiende onverschilligheid en vandalisme, en in andere details. Zoals bekend (kijk er o.a. Voer voor psychologen maar op na) dacht Mulisch zelf ook echt dat de mens door de techniek zijn ziel en persoonlijkheid verloren had en dat de wereld daaraan ten onder zou gaan. En die gedachte klinkt duidelijk door in allerlei uitspraken in De ontdekking van de hemel, met name uitsparen over techniek als een 'pact met de duivel'. Zoals ook Mulisch' gedachten over WO II doorklinken in de bespiegelingen van Max over het kwaad in de wereld, het raadsel van Auschwitz, het kwellende vermoeden dat het hele universum een zwart gapend gat is van totale zinloosheid. Dat, gecombineerd met allerlei dood en verdoemenis in het boek, geeft De ontdekking van de hemel een behoorlijk pessimistische toon.

Maar tegelijk is het vooral ook een boek vol uitbundige en zelfs uitzinnige verbeeldingskracht, waar je helemaal vrolijk van wordt. De vriendschap van Onno en Max is even ontroerend als hilarisch, en de jongensachtige fascinatie van Max en later Quinten voor de raadsels van het heelal is ongelofelijk aanstekelijk. Meer nog dan in andere boeken wist Mulisch mij te verbijsteren met zijn jongensachtig enthousiaste invallen over occultisme, alchemie en wetenschap. Alleen Mulisch kan zoiets bedenken als de 'historioscoop': een telescoop die de weerkaatsing opvangt van gebeurtenissen van eeuwen geleden. Onmogelijk, onvoorstelbaar en fantastisch, maar was de TV dat in 1800 niet ook? Prachtig is ook hoe Quinten opgroeit in een situatie die aan alle vastgeroeste conventies ontsnapt: met twee vaders (die allebei tegelijk wel en niet zijn vader zijn), met een afwezige moeder die juist door haar (op zichzelf trieste) afwezigheid sterker aanwezig is en ook een verstild en krachtig symbool is van oercreativiteit, en met een grootmoeder die (zonder dat Quinten het weet) tegen middernacht verandert in een seksueel bezeten furie. Een totaal andere setting dus dan de 'normale' familie, en juist daardoor kan Quintens uitzonderlijkheid zich ten volle ontplooien. Zo'n motief vind ik dan uitermate inspirerend en optimistisch. Net als het einde van het boek, waarin Quinten (als ik het goed heb begrepen) weer helemaal vervloeit met de oercreativiteit waaruit hij is voortgekomen. Mulisch zelf was bovendien geen pure pessimist: hij vreesde weliswaar de zielloosheid ten gevolge van de techniek, en werd zeer gekweld door het vraagstuk van het kwaad in de wereld, maar hij dacht ook dat kunst en verbeeldingskracht nog enige hoop op redding boden. En ook dat blijkt duidelijk in dit boek: het is immers ondanks al zijn pessimisme ook een jubelende ode aan de verbeeldingskracht, en een bruisende demonstratie van Mulisch' talent om het raadsel van de wereld nog vele malen te vergroten en te verrijken.

Prachtig boek kortom, dus ik ben blij dat ik het heb herlezen. En dat zal ik in de toekomst vast nog vaker doen!(less)

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Jan 27, 2013 Smcleish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in February 2003.

This novel charts the lives of two close friends, liberals in sixties Holland, and their love affairs with a Concertgebouw cellist. One of them, Onno Quist, comes from a patriarchal family eminent in conservative politics, while Max Delius' father was a war criminal executed for betraying his Jewish wife and in-laws, leading to their deaths at Auschwitz. This much background immediately demonstrates that politics and the legacy of the war wil...more Originally published on my blog here in February 2003.

This novel charts the lives of two close friends, liberals in sixties Holland, and their love affairs with a Concertgebouw cellist. One of them, Onno Quist, comes from a patriarchal family eminent in conservative politics, while Max Delius' father was a war criminal executed for betraying his Jewish wife and in-laws, leading to their deaths at Auschwitz. This much background immediately demonstrates that politics and the legacy of the war will be two of the novel's major themes.

The Discovery of Heaven has another theme, however, as is indicated in the dialogues which separate its four parts and provide prologue and epilogue. These make it clear that angelic beings of some kind are manipulating Max and Onno for their own purpose: the production of a specific child to fulfil a particular destiny. This supernatural framework prepares the reader for the philosophical and metaphysical discussions which fill the novel, although it does pre-empt a fair proportion of them. I feel that as far as the majority of the novel is concerned, they should have been omitted; without them, however, the ending would make very little sense. The dialogues seem to be there to add a half-hearted touch of magic realism, which detracts from the strengths of the novel (the depiction of the relationship between Onno and Max, for example); I would have found a different method of introducing Quinten's destiny more interesting.

The main interest in the novel is, as I have indicated, its central relationship and the discussions between the two men involved (which makes it pointless to read the novel if you are uninterested in philosophy and politics). There are occasional amusing snippets, such as the "demonstration" that Francis Bacon wrote Vladimir Nabokov's novels, or the Cuban conference, which make me suspect that humour has been to some extent lost in translation.

The Discovery of Heaven is an enjoyable read, as intellectual as (say) Iris Murdoch, even if not so well put together. Parts of it are better than others; it succeeds best as an account of an unusual friendship.(less)

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Jun 06, 2012 Mighty_k24 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In't kort: Nederland, begin 60s. Onno, een Amsterdammer van hoge komaf en talengenie, maakt kennis met Max, uit Leiden, sterrenkundige en opgevoed door pleegouders. Beiden worden op korte tijd onafscheidelijk en verzeilen in allerlei avonturen. Onderweg maken ze kennis met beroepsmuzikante Ada, die eerst het lief wordt van Max, maar eens dat uitraakt, in zee gaat met Onno. Op een congres in Cuba, waar zij moet spelen, en Max en Onno zich voordoen als de 'Nederlandse delegatie', raakt Ada zwanger...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A poll of Dutch readers taken in 2007 resulted in this being selected as "the greatest Dutch-language novel ever." I can see why. It is a brilliant and engaging work. The frame is,to say the least, cosmic in scope. A group of divine beings decide to send a new "spark" into mortality on a special mission. The problem, the divines feel, is that the emergence of the scientific method and the resulting explosion in human knowledge actually threatens their superiority. Moreover, there is so much abou...more A poll of Dutch readers taken in 2007 resulted in this being selected as "the greatest Dutch-language novel ever." I can see why. It is a brilliant and engaging work. The frame is,to say the least, cosmic in scope. A group of divine beings decide to send a new "spark" into mortality on a special mission. The problem, the divines feel, is that the emergence of the scientific method and the resulting explosion in human knowledge actually threatens their superiority. Moreover, there is so much about human beings that both frightens and appalls them that they decide something must simply be done! So you have operating in this novel, a very literal deus ex machina. In fact, when one particular character needs to be removed from the scene, he is simply struck by a meteor, becoming only the second person in human history to suffer this fate! One almost suspects, when such a thing happens, that Mulisch is both playing with and making fun of the arbitrary and easy way some plots develop. Side-by-side with this cosmic drama is a very intimate tale of male friendship and the involvement of both of these men, Onno and Max, with an attractive woman named Ada. So successful is Mulisch's portrayal of these characters, at least for this reader, that I actually found myself awake in the middle of the night worrying about them! The novel is also filled with a wealth of themes and ideas, with the result that a few readers have criticized it for being "too intellectual." Normally I tire of egghead digressions, but for some reason I found most of these fascinating and stimulating. Max is an astronomer and he thinks a great deal about radio telescopes and how such ever more sophisticated apparatuses may enable us to peer through time to the Big Bang and beyond. Onno, his friend, is a brilliant linguist prone to postulate all sorts of linguistic theories and other theories as well, such as his idea that the reason certain people gain astounding political power is purely bodily (it sounds mad, until you read the rather convincing argument). In addition, the book concerns the holocaust and the painful issue of collaboration as well as containing a Dan Brown-like search for the tablets containing the Ten Commandments! In other words, it takes on a lot in its 700+ pages. Indeed, "The Discovery of Heaven" stands as a great monument to Harry Mulisch, who died in 2010 without ever winning the Nobel Prize many of his readers expected. Enough said: a moving and enjoyable read. (less)

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Aug 18, 2010 Rowland Bismark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the english version of my review:

Onno, an amateur philologist obsessed by the Phaistos Disk, comes from one of the Netherland's leading political families. Max, a womanising radio astronomer, is the son of a collaborator who was executed after the Second World War. An unlikely pair brought together by chance — or angelic intervention — they immediately strike up a firm friendship. When Max meets Ada, a cellist, she is not just one of his usual girlfriends, but it is Onno who ends up marr...more This is the english version of my review:

Onno, an amateur philologist obsessed by the Phaistos Disk, comes from one of the Netherland's leading political families. Max, a womanising radio astronomer, is the son of a collaborator who was executed after the Second World War. An unlikely pair brought together by chance — or angelic intervention — they immediately strike up a firm friendship. When Max meets Ada, a cellist, she is not just one of his usual girlfriends, but it is Onno who ends up marrying her. Ada goes to Cuba to perform and Onno and Max accompany her — they are mistaken for delegates to a revolutionary forum — and it is not clear which of them is the father of Quinten, born nine months later.

After a car accident leaves Ada in a coma, Quinten is brought up by Max and Ada's mother Sophia, in a country castle which they share with an unusual assortment of tenants. Among them are a locksmith, an architect, and a philologist, who have just the skills to train Quinten for the task for which he has been brought into the world. For that he must find Onno, who has first become involved in politics and then become a kind of hermit, and the two of them must travel first to Rome and then to Jerusalem — to undo the covenant God made with man. The Discovery of Heaven is set within a framing story in which one angel reports to another on how events have been manipulated to this end, to bring Quinten into the world and then to lead him to his goal — with some extra work to dispose of pesky astronomers who discover too much about the universe.

The Discovery of Heaven is a novel of ideas on a large scale, sprawling across science, religion, architecture, politics and more. Though intellectual in its preoccupations, it is never didactic: ideas are integrated with the plot and characters and never allowed to get in the way of the story. The overall tone is also light-hearted, though it never lapses into the comic. And Mulisch never pushes any of the ideas too far — at least, none of the science made me wince, though I'm pretty sensitive to misuse of scientific ideas.

These strong points, however, are paralleled by some obvious criticisms that can be levelled at The Discovery of Heaven. It is shallow, never treating any of its subjects at length, or that seriously. The theology of the framing story may troublesome and, though I never found suspension of disbelief a problem, having angels intervene to manage the plot is too easy. And the character range is limited: the principal characters all have lives centred on ideas (Quinten is a typically unconvincing child prodigy), none of the female characters are at all substantial, and many of the strongest elements are autobiographical.

If you're after a large but lively novel of ideas, however, held together by an engaging story, then I highly recommend The Discovery of Heaven.
(less)

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Nov 13, 2009 Forn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

Angespornt durch den Film mit Stephen Fry als Onno kaufte ich mir dieses Buch und meine Erwartungen wurden noch übertroffen. Im Rückblick ist der Film eine lahme Geschichte, verglichen mit der Fülle des Buches.
Sicherlich habe ich längst nicht alle Ebenen des Buches ergründen können, erst jetzt habe ich z.B. erfahren, dass Mulisch wohl seine Autobiographie darin verarbeitet hat. Ich werde es also noch mehrmals lesen müssen, was mir eine Freude sein wird.

Die Freundschaft zwischen Onno und Max, ih...more

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May 12, 2008 Bartholomew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Pat Byrnes

Wonderfully philosophical. Probing and intelligent, this novel is difficult to be categorised to a specific genre... none seem to be able to adequately contain this novel. We travel from Amsterdam to Cuba, from the 60s to the 90s and from Atheism to Roman Catholicism to Judaism, via Palladio! It's a massive read and kept me busy for a long time - not helped by the fact that life got in the way... Read this book and prepare to live a little.

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Aug 07, 2009 Annett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Es ist nicht einfach, über 870 Seiten tatsächlich die Spannung aufrecht zu erhalten und die Leser/innen mitzureissen. Mit "Die Entdeckung des Himmels schafft Harry Mulisch genau das, indem er auf faszinierende Art und Weise die Geschichte von Quinten Quist und seinem (himmlischen) Auftrag erzählt. Woraus dieser eigentlich besteht, wird erst zum Ende des Buches aufgelöst, durch Einschübe aus einer anderen Welt (eben der himmlischen) aber immer wieder in den Vordergrund gestellt. Erzähler ist derj...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, translated

“Was everything possible and could anything be done, since it would one day irrevocably be cast aside? Even in heaven eternal bliss would be possible only by the grace of a criminal loss of memory. Should the blessed not be punished with hell for this? Everything had been wrecked for all eternity — not only here, but by thousands of earlier and later occasions, which no one remembered. Heaven was impossible; only hell might perhaps exist.”

“When I see your pitiful appearance, I have to think back...more

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Oct 12, 2010 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 06, 2011 Inge Vermeire rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Het boek stond jarenlang in mijn kast en pas met de dood van Mulisch vond ik het tijd om het dan ook eens te lezen. Heb er zeker van genoten maar ben nu wel blij dat die turf van meer dan 900 blz. uit is en ik weer eens iets anders kan lezen. Sommige passages in het boek vond ik absoluut veel te lang en te encyclopedisch - ik had soms het gevoel dat de auteur op een schoolmeesterachtige wijze zijn kennis etalleerde, in de zin van ' zie eens wat ik allemaal weet'...Ik kreeg ook vaak de indruk dat...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Nicola-ingrid rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First I fell in love with the film adaptation, featuring Stephen Fry. Then, I fell in love with the novel, which is epic (in both size and narrative) compared to the film.
I took this novel with me during my tour of Italy (not many books can see you through the journey's between 10 different towns & cities), grateful that I could identify with some of the locations mentioned in the novel. Although I saw the movie first, therefore literally looking out for visible landmarks, it did not stop m...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Nelleke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, dutch-literature, contemporary-fiction, fiction, favourite, literature, mystery, supernatural, philosophy

Absolute great! Did not know that there was dutch literature like this. Too bad Harry Mulish died a few years ago. I enjoyed the book so much that I'm almost sad I finished it. For me it is a masterpiece because between the lines you can read that the writer should be very intelligent and knows a lot. In spite of this it isn't a difficult book. Conversation between the main characters were philosophical and did let me think of the meaning of it. All events written in the book had a purpose and w...more

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Jan 10, 2011 LCPL Lake County (IN) Public Library added it

"Called the greatest writer in Dutch literature, Mulisch has produced an opus magnum featuring historical, cultural, social, political and religious themes of the latter half of the 20th century. His two “heroes,” Max and Onno, become friends upon a chance meeting and continue to share their lives in ways even they do not suspect. Ada, the woman both love, has a child who is fathered by Max, but is considered Onno’s son and will fulfill the destiny planned for him by two celestial beings (i.e. a...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, dutch

Dit boek stond destijds, toen ik nog op de middelbare school zat, op de boekenlijst. Dit boek lezen leverde je 5 punten op. De meeste andere boeken 1, of 2 punten. Ik besloot om die ene student te zijn die het boek zou gaan lezen. Ik was toen...18? De leraar Nederlands was onder de indruk dat het boek op mijn lijstje stond, maar betwijfelde of ik het boek ook daadwerkelijk van begin tot eind had gelezen.
Dat had ik dus wel. Er was niet alles in het boek wat ik begreep, maar juist dat maakte dat i...more

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Jul 30, 2010 Emrys rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a great book...in every way!

It's a great big story that fills 730 pages...let's start with that. Whew! Definitely summer reading for me, because that's when I have a little extra time.

But within those 730 pages is a great story as well. There are intriguing characters (I love Onno) and conversations between them. And just about all the big subjects are covered: string theory, the Big Bang, architecture (not, oooh, look at those pretty columns, but ARCHITECTURE), politics, art, music, rel...more

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Oct 24, 2007 Misty rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Een moetje op mijn Nederlandse literatuurlijst. Het is maar goed dat ik het niet heb vervangen met een uittreksel want dan had ik wat gemist. De film zou ik maar overslaan, de ontdekking moet je namelijk gewoon lezen.

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Jun 29, 2011 Ajeng rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought, "Why not read something from a Dutch author while I'm living in The Netherlands now". And this book was a nice surprise. Being a big literary work that it is, it turned out to be funny -in a dry ironic sort of way, but funny nonetheless.

I only have fond memory of this book, as it managed to bring me closer to a colleague which now have become a dear friend of mine (how "Norwegian Wood", friendship that was started by a book).

My only regret was that I got the copy of the old edition,...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Graeme Newlands rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is involving, brimming with cultural, scientific, architectural ideas; the characters are funny and their situations involving and interesting. Onno and Max are great friends and their story is not just about two middle aged men in diverse careers (Astronomy and Politics), but almost about Amsterdam, Europe, everything... absolutely everything (i'm struggling to quantify).

Mulisch is a masterful writer who can create a scene without pretention, make his c...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Marko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel does very well in the first three parts to entertain, inform, and dazzle with lucid details and lively dialogue, then fantastically derails in part four. The character of Quinten Quist (completely uninteresting precisely because he is so exaggerated and supernatural) hijacks the novel, steering it into a mess of biblical cryptography and architectural fetishism. The last few hundred pages could have been any Dan Brown novel, except they were much more painful to read for having the as...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Marc L rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dutch-literature

Eerste 400 blz zijn subliem, vooral in de tekening van de driehoeksverhouding Onno-Ada-Max. Elke bladzijde is genieten en de situatieschetsen zijn soms geniaal.
Maar daarna stuikt het hele verhaal in elkaar: vanaf de comateuze toestand van Ada glijdt de spanning weg; de Bildungsroman die daarna volgt is nog gedeeltelijk te pruimen, maar het saaie detectiveverhaal waarmee de roman eindigt, is een anticlimax. Mulisch blijkt net als Claus een schrijver die gemakkelijk in automatismen vervalt: dikwi...more

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Aug 30, 2011 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Absolutely phenomenal book... was given to me as a gift when I was living in Amsterdam and could not put it down...
Should have the subtitle, 'An Introduction to Almost Everything', as you will find yourself with a hell of a lot of new interests, in Philosophy, Astronomy, Music, even lock picking... the list is endless. Rather than forcing these subjects into the story to impress upon the reader, that Mulisch is a polymath, they are beautifully woven in to an incredible story that will one day ta...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Lone Morch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fantastic romp through post-2nd world war Europe politics, astronomy, friendship, loyalty, love, religion, destiny, and more, with stints to Cuba and other places. In intelligent 'thriller' of sorts, with clever conversations, complex, deep characters, wild twists and turns of life, and dealing with the questions of why are we here? who put us here? are we just marionettes on missions from those beyond or do we have our own destinies to figure out. I have had this book, a gift, for 10 years, a...more

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May 09, 2013 Jeff Tufano rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A couple of angels are talking. According to them we’ll be reading about 2 gentlemen who are destined to meet and drama ensues.
I picked this book up at some hole in the wall bookstore because it looked like the most interesting title in the store. Just goes to show the old adage of not judging a book by its cover.

So Onno & Max are the two gentlemen who meet (sometime in the 60’s) as predetermined by 2 random angels who have no known significance beyond their halos. They strike up a profoun...more A couple of angels are talking. According to them we’ll be reading about 2 gentlemen who are destined to meet and drama ensues.
I picked this book up at some hole in the wall bookstore because it looked like the most interesting title in the store. Just goes to show the old adage of not judging a book by its cover.

So Onno & Max are the two gentlemen who meet (sometime in the 60’s) as predetermined by 2 random angels who have no known significance beyond their halos. They strike up a profound friendship. Max meets a woman, Ada and they have a brief affair. They break up and shortly after Onno takes up with Ada for a more serious relationship and they marry. On a trip to Cuba Max and Ada screw around. Later Ada has a child but we don’t know the father (and never actually do since the Maury Povich Show never makes an appearance but if it did it would give this book some much needed levity). Ada is in an accident and spends the rest of the book in a coma. Though Onno is believed to be the child’s father it is Max who raises Quinten with Ada’s mother with whom he has a bizarre relationship (at first it’s sexual and then it’s just domestic??). A lot of time passes, a lot of conversations are had about a lot of scientific and not so scientific things and not much happens in a lot of pages. Onno leaves about 2/3 of the way through the book. Quinten grows up (it’s like the 80’s now) and goes in search of Onno. Max eventually dies from a meteor shower no less. At this point the author does something really ridiculous with the plot by having Onno & Quinten go on some really half-assed Indian Jones adventure for the Ten Commandments and then when Quinten magically finds them they go and put them where they belong and the end and I don’t know what I read.

It was awful. It’s right up there with Atlas Shrugged as one of the worst books I’ve read. It was apparently supposed to be a book filled with great ideas and intense philosophical repartee and yet it was none of that. It just seemed like this hodgepodge of stuff happening and things said and none of it was particularly interesting. Oh well, onto something a little less convoluted and something more my taste.

I am giving this book 2 stars which is one more star than I think it deserved because I really think part of the problem was the large language and cultural gap considering this as an English translation of a mainly Dutch book and therefore falls way out of my reading usual reading habits.
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Jan 20, 2013 Soesja Schelling rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 stars

Ooh my, I can't believe I actually finished this!! It feels like a huge accomplishment, haha! And I even ended up kinda liking it. I started reading because, well, my parents kinda forced me to and I was curious. I thought it was tiring at first but now, I like that I read it. I'm gonna lay out some things I liked and disliked about this book.

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- I liked that in the end, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. There are no loose strings or unfinished story lines. Everything is do...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Antithesis rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is the size of a word book, but your time is better spent just reading definitions from a word book. It starts off promising, but it soon becomes apparent that the plot has no direction whatsoever, and that it's just a container for a couple of pseudo-scientific/philosophic passages. Those passages weren't necessarily bad, but most of them were of the level of "tell me something new." They are in no way good enough to justify the book, especially considering the fact that those passage...more This book is the size of a word book, but your time is better spent just reading definitions from a word book. It starts off promising, but it soon becomes apparent that the plot has no direction whatsoever, and that it's just a container for a couple of pseudo-scientific/philosophic passages. Those passages weren't necessarily bad, but most of them were of the level of "tell me something new." They are in no way good enough to justify the book, especially considering the fact that those passages is really the only thing the book is building up to.

And the plot doesn't even do a good job of covering up the fact that the author just wanted do literary masturbating. With that plot, those passages fall completely out of place. It's clear that the author's formula was "write a seemingly normal plot, but once every 50 pages, I get deep and surrealistic." It feels forced and pretentious. I'll give a more concrete idea of what those supposedly interesting passages are. The author split himself up into the three main characters for this book (that's not even an accusation; he does that more often and gives hints of this by describing the characters's appearances as that of himself). Those passages are dialogs between any of those characters. Kind of like an interview the author was having with himself.

In all honesty, I think the book would be better if it was abridged to just those passages. The now-dead author gets his way of sharing what he wanted to share, the reader gets his way of not having to read through 900 pages of uninteresting plot for no reason, and it saves trees. I've read many books by Mulisch, and I can tell you that he was not being Mulisch. The only thing I can imagine he was thinking, is that his books had too high a concentration of surrealism which greater audiences might dislike, so he made a lame excuse for a plot that's filled with clichés. It's kind of a Mulisch-lite, to introduce people to his style (although that doesn't explain why the book had to be 900 pages, then. That remains a mystery.)

Another key thing about him that's missing in this book, is coherence. His books are usually filled with it, so much so that the prologue of The Diamond jokingly announces something along the lines of "this will be the start of a story with strange coherences that only become clear afterwards!" And that's true, for most of his work. But here, the reader is left with nothing, at the end, but a very rushed epilogue that again raises the longing of being told something new for a change. But there isn't anything new except the feeling of betrayal.

My last complaint: the author makes up an interesting but unscientific invention in this book. He proposes the idea that, theoretically speaking, one can see the past by looking at the stars. The light that the earth reflected from the sun 1000 years ago, would have hit a star 500 light-years away, get reflected, and return to the earth again by now. Despite the fact that only a very small portion of the light reflected from the star, shows the events on earth 1000 years ago, it should be possible to take only the light you want, amplify it, and get a clear look at the past.

This is completely false. I'm in my first year of engineering physics, and one of the first things I learnt is that stars are black bodies: they absorb all the light they receive. The light you see when looking at the sun, is entirely the result of nuclear fusion. There's no reflection. And yet Mulisch has an astronomer confirm that this theory (which a child thought of) is possible, and it's a recurring concept in the book. Mulisch loved the natural science and it's possible that he simply was not aware of this, but that's no excuse. Compare it to what he did for The Procedure, which deals a lot with chemistry: he went to actual chemists for lectures, made notes, asked all the questions he needed to ask, and then used the material for his book.

In an interview a couple months before his death [1], when asked if he sees popularity as a good way of determining how good a book is, Mulisch answered: "by that logic, Kluun (a Dutch writer who's very popular but is also very much criticized; replace with Stephenie Meyer if you aren't Dutch) is the best writer of them all. I don't think so." Take the author's own advice and don't read this book. If you want to read Mulisch, read The Procedure.

Sources:
1. http://www.novatv.nl/page/detail/uitz...(less)

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About Harry Mulisch

Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch along with W.F. Hermans and Gerard Reve, is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch postwar literature. He has written novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections.

Mulisch was born in Haarlem and has lived in Amsterdam since 1958, following the death of his father in 1957. Mulisch's father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after...more Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch along with W.F. Hermans and Gerard Reve, is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch postwar literature. He has written novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections.

Mulisch was born in Haarlem and has lived in Amsterdam since 1958, following the death of his father in 1957. Mulisch's father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War. During the German occupation in World War II he worked for a German bank, which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets. His mother, Alice Schwarz, was Jewish. Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to a concentration camp thanks to Mulisch's father's collaboration with the Nazis. Due to the curious nature of his parents' positions, Mulisch has claimed that he is the Second World War.

A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War. His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards. As the war spanned most of Mulisch's formative phase, it had a defining influence on his life and work. In 1963, he wrote a non-fiction work about the Eichmann case: The case 40/61. Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War are De Aanslag, Het stenen bruidsbed, and Siegfried.
Additionally, Mulisch often incorporates ancient legends or myths in his writings, drawing on Greek mythology (e.g. in De Elementen), Jewish mysticism (in De ontdekking van de Hemel and De Procedure), well-known urban legends and politics (Mulisch is politically left-wing, notably defending Fidel Castro since the Cuban revolution). Mulisch is widely read and (according to his critics) often flaunts his philosophical and even scientific knowledge.
Mulisch gained international recognition with the movie De Aanslag (The Assault), (1986) which was based on his eponymous book. It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated in more than twenty languages.
His novel De ontdekking van de Hemel (1992) was filmed in 2001 as The Discovery of Heaven by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen Fry.
Amongst many awards he has received for individual works and his total body of work, the most important is the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch Literature, an official lifetime achievement award) in 1995.(less)

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