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The Guard

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 75 ratings · 9 reviews

Harry and Michel live in the basement of a luxury apartment block, guarding the inhabitants. No-one goes outside. The world might be at war - it might even have been plunged into nuclear winter. No-one knows.

All Harry and Michel know is that if they are vigilant, 'the Organization' will reward them: promotion to an elite cadre of security officers remains their shining go...more

Hardcover, 242 pages

Published September 13th 2012 by MacLehose Press (first published 2009)

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May 20, 2012 Chad Post rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read a sample of this probably two, two-and-a-half years ago, and have been waiting for the English translation to be completed ever since. It's a very strange book set in some country at some unspecified future date, and is narrated by a guard for an unspecified company who, along with his colleague, are protecting the basement of a (nearly) abandoned luxury apartment building.

It's nearly abandoned because approximately 18 months before the start of the novel, all but one resident--along wit...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Miles rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

The Guard by Peter Terrin – translated from the Dutch by David Colmer - is for me a great example of a marmite book! You’ll either love it or hate it. I’m caught somewhere in the middle and having just finished it I’m still not certain how I feel about it, more on that later. One thing you certainly can’t take away from the book – actually two – the narrative is intense and beautifully written and the author shows a great deal of promise, not that he needs me to confirm this of course!

Told in it...more The Guard by Peter Terrin – translated from the Dutch by David Colmer - is for me a great example of a marmite book! You’ll either love it or hate it. I’m caught somewhere in the middle and having just finished it I’m still not certain how I feel about it, more on that later. One thing you certainly can’t take away from the book – actually two – the narrative is intense and beautifully written and the author shows a great deal of promise, not that he needs me to confirm this of course!

Told in its entirety through the voice of Michel – an intriguing and complex narrator – we suffer the highs and lows of their – Harry and Michel - captivity. They can’t go anywhere; they have no contact with the outside world save for a regular delivery of water and food rations, rations that will see them through to the next delivery. The book is very circular in that the guards live for the resupply; they go through each day with regular monotony and intense precision leaving no stone unturned, convinced that they continue to play a crucial role in securing the residents safety from whatever lies outside the apartment block.

The first two thirds of the book are based in the confines of the concrete basement and with each new chapter I found it remarkable how the author kept my attention and perhaps more importantly that I didn’t feel claustrophobic! Paranoia and insecurity play a big part in the story and Terrin somehow keeps the story flowing and although not a quick read – there’s a lot to think about – it moves along at a decent pace. The narrative bounces around and I wasn’t quite sure if passages were in the present or the past at some points which that took me a little extra to get my head around.

Michel is a curious character whose world is based on his paranoid tendencies. The guards follow the same routines day in day out and the slightest variation is mentally dissected by Michel and an enormous amount of energy is wasted on finding solutions to problems that don’t need fixing. But what else can they do sitting in the depths of a luxury apartment with no one else to talk to? Conditions are poor and the insecurity plays an inevitable role in what eventually happens, insecurity comes a calling and forces their hand.

Having just finished the book and although we sit in on their daily discussions I still don’t feel I’ve learned that much about Michel or Harry which was a shame, I wanted to learn more.

When I picked up the book I was intrigued by the cover jacket and the premise, I’m not quite sure what drew me to the book but I’m glad I’ve read it. I had an idea in my head on how I wanted the story to unfold and although it didn’t turn out as I had imagined I do feel the author missed a trick with the latter stage of the book and I still don’t know what happened at the end. It certainly confused me and had it not been for the wonderful narrative I’d have closed the book disappointed.

Tense, powerful and beautifully written The Guard has been written by an author who knows his own mind and how he wants to write a book. Moving away from the norm he has certainly delivered an unusual and thought provoking book that will divide readers. I’m not entirely convinced with the book but one thing I am certain of, this won’t be the last book I read by Peter Terrin. Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature I want to see what he comes up with next!(less)

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Oct 23, 2012 Ellie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary

Harry and Michel are the only two guards in a luxury apartment block. The never leave the basement and their number one priority is keeping the residents safe. Who knows what dangers lurk outside the apartment rules. They spend their days on a strict routine, sleeping in shifts and eking out their rations, awaiting the day a third guard joins. But one day the residents leave on mass. What do they do without any word from the organisation?

In part, The Guard is a brilliant study of the effects of...more Harry and Michel are the only two guards in a luxury apartment block. The never leave the basement and their number one priority is keeping the residents safe. Who knows what dangers lurk outside the apartment rules. They spend their days on a strict routine, sleeping in shifts and eking out their rations, awaiting the day a third guard joins. But one day the residents leave on mass. What do they do without any word from the organisation?

In part, The Guard is a brilliant study of the effects of boredom and paranoia. The first half, I loved. There’s the mysterious organisation that put them there and Harry has all these theories of the elite; the role he is destine for. He seems to have developed a whole fantasy to keep him going and it slowly takes over, this desire to be chosen, the escape their life in the basement through promotion and recognition. There’s a sense that it is set in the not too distant future and that something bad has happened outside. What, we don’t really know, but Michel’s speculations add to the atmosphere and suspense.

Michel starts to come across as incredibly dependent on Harry, as if brainwashed. Perhaps as Harry was the first guard he sees him as an authority figure but I was disappointed that Michel didn’t stand up to him or question his actions. The thought may cross his mind but it never seems to be spoken. I started to have a real problem with Harry as a character, which would be fine if he was an obvious villain but I don’t know what I was meant to think. He does some pretty horrible things in that basement but Michel doesn’t respond in any way.

My main problem is that I have no idea what happened at the end. Maybe it’s supposed to replicate disorientation but I couldn’t separate what was real and what was in Michel’s mind. Maybe he was just crazy for the whole book, I don’t know and I so wanted answers about the organisation, what they were doing in the basement and what had happened outside. I wonder if it’s the sort of book you really need to sit down and concentrate on rather than reading on the go as I did. It had a lot of potential but I felt like I had missed something important by the end.
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Apr 07, 2013 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2013

This is one of the strangest books I have read in a while.

It concerns two guards in an exclusive apartment block who see almost all the residents leave. They are sure that there is one left, but not certain. They continue their routines, of patrolling the basement, and stock checking whilst still not know what is happening outside. They have supplies delivered erratically, and.later in the book are joined by a third guard who disturbs the status quo.

The author (and translator) manage to build th...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Maarten Bresseleers added it · review of another edition

Blij dat dit boek uit was. Peter Terrin slaagt er niet in de beklemmende sfeer op te wekken van twee bewakers afgesloten van de buitenwereld, waardoor alle gebeurtenissen (en dat zijn er al niet veel) vrij ongeloofwaardig overkomen.

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Nov 11, 2012 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beklemmende sfeer en hallucinante ontknoping!

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Apr 17, 2012 Pascale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Hallucinant verhaal over twee mannen die een verlaten gebouw bewaken. Waarom het gebouw, op één persoon na, verlaten is, weten we niet. Voor wIe ze werken, komen we ook niet te weten. Af en toe worden de mannen bevoorraad maar die persoon behandelen ze als een vijand. Er gebeurt het hele boek lang eigenlijk niets, behalve dan dat er een gebouw wordt bewaakt en toch slaagt de auteur erin de spanning op te bouwen tot die bijna ondraaglijk wordt.

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Oct 15, 2012 Rodrigo Sanesc rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was expecting more of the story regarding the relationship between the two protagonist or some good explanation to all the mystery and that didn't happened.

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Mar 30, 2013 Anthony Jouniaux rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Op zich een goed boek. Peter Terrin ontpopt zich de laatste jaren steeds meer als een kanjer van de Vlaamse literatuur. Het boek begint traag maar gestaag en het einde kon me ook wel bekoren.

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May 20, 2013 Lynn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 09, 2013 Evi Tersago marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 20, 2013 Cathérine rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 21, 2013 andone marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-dutch

Apr 16, 2013 Lien Haest is currently reading it · review of another edition

Apr 12, 2013 Lotti added it · review of another edition

Shelves: gelezen-in-2010

Apr 11, 2013 Hans Tersago rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 07, 2013 Peter Janssens rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 03, 2013 Sam De brabander rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 01, 2013 Milan Valadou marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 25, 2013 Steven Beeckman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mar 17, 2013 Evelyne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nederlands, studie

Mar 16, 2013 Darren Davidson marked it as to-read

Mar 09, 2013 Wouter marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Mar 08, 2013 Lexus77 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mar 14, 2013 Clara De Decker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mar 25, 2013 Jeldau rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Feb 24, 2013 Prowisorio rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mar 27, 2013 Ad rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Feb 22, 2013 Distance added it · review of another edition

Feb 18, 2013 Sara added it · review of another edition

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About Peter Terrin

Peter Terrin is een Vlaamse schrijver.

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