De Omweg

Apr 05, 2013 Blair rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, read-on-kindle, translated, 2012-release

Short, sparse and strange, Gerbrand Bakker's The Detour is the enigmatic tale of a Dutch woman, Emilie, who runs away from her husband and takes up residence in an isolated cottage in the Welsh countryside. For some time she lives a solitary existence there, as the reasons for her decision are slowly made clear to the reader. Her only companions are ten geese - and even they are disappearing, being picked off by a predator one by one. Then her privacy is disturbed: by the necessity of a visit to...more Short, sparse and strange, Gerbrand Bakker's The Detour is the enigmatic tale of a Dutch woman, Emilie, who runs away from her husband and takes up residence in an isolated cottage in the Welsh countryside. For some time she lives a solitary existence there, as the reasons for her decision are slowly made clear to the reader. Her only companions are ten geese - and even they are disappearing, being picked off by a predator one by one. Then her privacy is disturbed: by the necessity of a visit to the local doctor's, by a farmer who makes unwanted advances towards her, by a boy who takes a detour across her land with his dog. It is the last encounter that proves the most significant, as Emilie develops a tentative and unsettling relationship with Bradwen (who is almost always referred to simply as 'the boy').

This is the type of book in which everything is loaded with symbolism and meaning. There is little action, the language is stripped down and the behaviour of the characters is often surreal - what to make of the chain-smoking doctor and his gossiping in the hair salon, or the peculiar semi-sexual tension between Emilie's husband and the policeman? Then there's the fact that Bradwen slots so easily into Emilie's life and household, and that both of them accept this unusual arrangement. Although the book has some traces of that occasional awkwardness which seems to be a hallmark of translation, the simple, elegant prose is a perfect fit for a character like Emilie. Despite the fact that she is the main focus of the story, she remains a mystery to the reader right to the end, and her final actions come as something of a shock.

The Detour is cold, stark and arguably uneventful, but for me, those were the things that made it memorable. There's a strong sense of unease running through the story, and I thought the surprise of the ending was wonderfully done. (I was also weirdly glad that (view spoiler).) This won't be for everyone - it could easily be perceived as depressing and dull - but after a slow start, it made a real impression on me.(less)

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Feb 25, 2013 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks

In this quiet and mysterious story, a woman from Amsterdam arrives in Wales where she rents a remote farm cottage in the countryside. There she seeks solitude and hopes to find the privacy she's been searching for. Although she claims to be an Emily Dickinson scholar who has arrived to do research for her dissertation, before long it is obvious that she is running away from someone or something.

As she is settling in, Dickinson poetry and Dickinson photos in her possession, she notices "ten whit...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bleakfiction, european-fiction

Ach. Another fine novel from the author of The Twin, another exploration of how it happens that a person resigns oneself to her (or his) own company, cuts ties with the surrounding community, develops small strategies of distraction and repose. As you might guess, this is not a cheerful read but Bakker's prose crackles with a definite dry sense of humor that I don't find in similar novels by (for example) by Dag Solstad or Per Petterson.

It would be a mistake to say too much about the plot of The...more

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May 19, 2012 Heather Noble rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book with a feeling of doomed fascination. I always read closely when a male author chooses to write from a female point of view and this book is also translated by a man. But it works and it has to be so because the Dutch woman seeking solace and solitude in Snowdonia Wales has recognised aspects of her life in that of the poet Emily Dickinson whom she is researching for a book. As well as the turmoil in her own life, "Emilie" has become disenchanted with the possibly exaggerated re...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Zazou rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nederlandse-auteurs, gelezen-in-2012

Wat een mooi boekje was dit toch weer van Gerbrand Bakker. Gesmuld had ik van "Boven is het stil" en "Perenbomen bloeien wit". Iets minder vond ik "Juni", maar "De omweg" kan volgens mij vergeleken worden met de eerste twee.

Het boek is zo mooi om wat er gezegd wordt, maar vooral ook om wat er níet gezegd wordt.

Ik vind het altijd prettig om na het lezen van een boek te gaan snuffelen in recensies om te kijken of ik tijdens het lezen misschien iets over het hoofd heb gezien. En negen van de tien...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A woman, calling herself Emily, has fled Amsterdam and rented a remote farm in Wales. Spending most of her time by herself, avoiding others as best she can, she doesn’t quite get around to continuing her research project on Emily Dickinson. Instead she starts improving her surroundings and keeping an eye on the geese in a field. When she arrived there were ten, but now they’re disappearing one by one. Maybe a fox is taking them, or maybe a bird.
When a young man injures himself jumping over a wal...more A woman, calling herself Emily, has fled Amsterdam and rented a remote farm in Wales. Spending most of her time by herself, avoiding others as best she can, she doesn’t quite get around to continuing her research project on Emily Dickinson. Instead she starts improving her surroundings and keeping an eye on the geese in a field. When she arrived there were ten, but now they’re disappearing one by one. Maybe a fox is taking them, or maybe a bird.
When a young man injures himself jumping over a wall into her garden he stays for the night and then doesn’t leave.
Back in Amsterdam the husband is still getting used to the idea that his wife had an affair with a student and left after confessing this to him. It is only when he discovers that she is ill that he decides to try and find her and travels to Wales with Anton, a policeman.
With the woman’s grasp on reality getting ever less firm, the future is unsure, for her, for the young man, for her husband and for the geese.

This is a minimalist book. The author seems to be using as little words as possible leaving a lot unsaid and open to interpretation by the reader. No clear picture of any of the characters or their motivation is painted. In fact it appears as if everything said and done in this story is accidental, unpremeditated, coincidental.

The woman’s thoughts seem to jump and lack direction, which adds a level of realism to the story since nobody thinks in full sentences and completed narratives. Our thoughts are all over the place at the best of times, and for the woman in the story these are not the best of times by any stretch of the imagination.

It is hard to know the driving force behind the actions of the characters in this book. Nobody seems to think about why they’re doing or not doing things, and nobody seems to question the other characters about their reasons.
Everything and everybody is kept at arm’s length. The woman calls herself Emily, but it is unlikely that is actually her name. Her husband is only identified as such, “the husband”. These two main protagonists don’t want to get close to the people around them.

The minimalistic approach and jumbled thoughts almost make this novel too realistic. No prettifying of life for this author, life is depicted in sober terms and a gloomy light, just as it was in The Twin. This doesn’t make for an easy to read book, but it does create real feelings in the reader and makes the story strangely compelling. On several occasions I had to put the book down for a little while just to process what was actually happening.
The writing in this book is sparse, unemotional and yet leaden with meaning even if the reader has to look for that meaning between the words and lines.

A lot of the narrative in this book revolves around language and translation, which makes me wonder how much, if anything, was lost in the translation of this book from Dutch. The fact that this is a story about a Dutch woman situated in Wales makes that question even more fascinating. I will have to try to get my hands on the original some time, just to discover if reading the book in Dutch makes a difference to the story and the feelings it evokes.
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Mar 25, 2013 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: animals, author-i-d-most-like-to-meet, fiction, europe, literature

It is no surprise that a book about a scholar deeply immersed in the work of Emily Dickinson is also about death. The titular ten geese, by the end of this book, number only four. But this book is about deception, too, and perception; love, and relationships; nature, and gardens. We pass two months in Wales but every season is accounted for. Gerbrand Bakker has created a knotty piece of fine art for us to contemplate.

We never learn how old she is, Agnes, or Emily as she liked to be called. We kn...more It is no surprise that a book about a scholar deeply immersed in the work of Emily Dickinson is also about death. The titular ten geese, by the end of this book, number only four. But this book is about deception, too, and perception; love, and relationships; nature, and gardens. We pass two months in Wales but every season is accounted for. Gerbrand Bakker has created a knotty piece of fine art for us to contemplate.

We never learn how old she is, Agnes, or Emily as she liked to be called. We know she is probably at the end of child-bearing age, so desperately had she tried to conceive. She is an intellectual, writing a dissertation on the poems of Emily Dickinson, that poet she must have once admired but grew to resent. She is ill. We learn that early, along with her sense of being stuck, and unsure in which direction to go.

She arrives in Wales alone, escaping the failures of her past. She walks. One day a badger bites her foot as she lies sunbathing on a rock. Not long after, Bradwen, a boy, and Sam, his dog, stumble into her yard and stay. But statements about events are foreplay here, for there is undertone and atmosphere and references and indications which are more of the book than the story itself. Like poetry, perhaps?

After her encounter with the badger, Emily pulls out her copy of The Wind in the Willows, one of the main characters of which is a badger. The book is mentioned again when Bradwen takes it from the house on his departure. That The Wind in the Willows is mentioned more than once cannot be coincidence. But why that book?

Perhaps we are to draw light comparisons between Emily and Toad for she is at her happiest in the bath; makes a mash of her career; alienates and betrays those close to her; is “on the run.” Bradwen might be Rat, for he carried a backpack and simply takes what he needs for his journeys, offering friendship to Toad when he needs it most, and is locked up while Toad makes his escape.

Bradwen is a curious figure whom we can’t see as a reliable character. He lies by omission, as does “Emily.” He never tells Emily who his father is and how he came to stay in this place, but clearly he is at home in it. He is willing to make meals in exchange for a bed. He shares a comforting, unerotic coupling with Emily, filled more with silence than sound, and worries ever after that his generosity might add to her burdens.

Sam the dog might be Mole, who accompanies Rat and finds the badger. A badger is a solitary creature “who simply hates society”--perhaps the reclusive Ms. Dickinson herself?--clever, generous, and welcoming when another comes to visit, but must be sought out. Friendly but fearful and elusive, the badger and doesn’t ever seem to come when called. Dickinson was apparently better known as a gardener while she was living than for writing poetry. Does this draw a line from Bakker to Dickinson, and badgers?

Gerbrand Bakker writes with a clarity and a depth that borders on knowledge—about pain, confusion, hurt, alienation, even sickness unto death—and in the voice of a woman. “I’m a strange man, maybe, but I think there is no fundamental difference between men and women. A lot of people would say otherwise, perhaps.” (NPR interview, 2013) This point of view may come from his training as a gardener. Humans of either sex are the same species: one sex has basically the same wants, needs, desires as the other—our differences don’t define our essential character. That having been said, this was a woman apart and in exquisite pain. I recognize her, but I hope I never meet (am) her.

Ach. Gerbrand Bakker’s book refuses to leave me. In the same seven minute NPR interview mentioned above, Bakker says that the process of writing this novel precipitated in him a great depression. I am not surprised. But literature can make us think about what man is, and Bakker doesn't leave us bereft.
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Mar 22, 2011 Gerda rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Dutch novel, not (yet?) translated. About a woman, undefined age but I think somewhere late thirties, who flees from Holland to go live in a rundown house in Wales. Leaving a husband who hasn't got a clue what's going on here.
What I like most about the book is the way it describes in detail all kind of sceneries, the rundown house, the garden, the area around it, the suffocating apartment of the parents. It is as if you're actually there.
The story in itself is appealing enough, even though so...more

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May 17, 2013 Parrish Lantern rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awards-prizes, blog-post, fiction, iffp, library, translation, the-dee-bees

A woman arrives from the Netherlands and sets up home in a remote farm she rents from a local. She says her name is Emilie and that she is a lecturer researching the life on Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886). On arrival she inherits the responsibility for ten geese, but slowly one by one they disappear with the chief suspect being a fox. We learn that the reason she has left her homeland and come to this remote farm is that her life back home had become unbearable after she confessed to an affair wi...more A woman arrives from the Netherlands and sets up home in a remote farm she rents from a local. She says her name is Emilie and that she is a lecturer researching the life on Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886). On arrival she inherits the responsibility for ten geese, but slowly one by one they disappear with the chief suspect being a fox. We learn that the reason she has left her homeland and come to this remote farm is that her life back home had become unbearable after she confessed to an affair with one of her students, which resulted in her loosing her post after it became common knowledge.

Back in the Netherlands her husband, who after a jealous outburst which involved accidently setting fire to her office, has formed a strange partnership with the police officer sent to arrest him and now they are both on her tail. Unaware of any of this Emilie meets a young man who appears to have injured himself whilst out walking his dog, he initially stays the night, but ends up staying a lot longer forming a strange relationship with Emilie.

It is very hard to describe what is happening in this book, for one thing very little does happen, meaning what you do reveal would need to be covered in spoiler alerts. More important is the realisation that what happens, very little of it is on the surface, it is as though you arrived in a mystery with only part of the facts and that for all your attempts to dig deeper – your only reward is hints, innuendo, and sly suggestion. Making this a book full of strange undercurrents of what ifs and whys, that like some dissonant background music constantly raises your awareness to this tales ambiguities, bringing with it a realisation that isn’t a tale or rural Wales with the protagonist living the good life in some primrose embroidered cottage.

Although this may be an escape to the country but from what and why? It also makes you conscious that despite what you are reading, there is so much left unsaid, so much that you are not being told. Making this a book that happens more within your head, than it does on the page, leaving you with nothing but those hints and innuendos as your means to interpret what happens on the page.

This is a strange quirky little book that skirts around issues of isolation and inner turmoil, that demurely screams it’s angst at life's tribulations. This is a quiet tragedy shot through with a dry humour that pierces all the angsts and obfuscation like the sun through the clouds on a welsh hillside.

Since reading this book which was on the International Foreign Fiction Prize longlist, it made the cut and is now shortlisted which is wonderful, as it definitely deserves to be there, not just for the tale but also for David Colmer’s translation which made this book a beautiful and seamless read.(less)

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Apr 30, 2013 Bee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: international-fiction-reading-group, novels

This is one of the books of the short list of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize that our reading group reads for the Readers Project.

A woman comes to Wales to live in a little cottage. Her husband does not know about it but starts to search for her. When he eventually finds her it is too late.

That is in short the story of "The Detour". The book gives only slowly away what history lays behind the woman who calls herself Emily after her favourite poetess Emily Dickinson.

Strangely Gerbrand B...more

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May 25, 2013 Digitaldolf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book in Dutch but it is available in English as "the detour". Gerbrand Bakker is a great writer.

The Detour follows Emilie, a translation professor and Emily Dickinson scholar, who retreats from her life in the Netherlands to an isolated farm house in Wales following an affair with a student. A young man hiking past the farmhouse with his dog stays for a night but ends up remaining longer, helping the woman to make repairs to the farmhouse and easing her self-imposed loneliness. But b...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Brian Warren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Celebrated Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker's quietly haunting novel Ten White Geese has just been released in the US after a successful run atop many of Europe's best seller lists. With a title change (from The Detour) and a translation by Australian David Colmer, Ten White Geese is the story of a Dutch professor of literature who flees her life－husband, job, parents, home－for the austerity of rural Wales. She’s an Emily Dickinson scholar whose affair with a student has recently been discovered. Ra...more Celebrated Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker's quietly haunting novel Ten White Geese has just been released in the US after a successful run atop many of Europe's best seller lists. With a title change (from The Detour) and a translation by Australian David Colmer, Ten White Geese is the story of a Dutch professor of literature who flees her life－husband, job, parents, home－for the austerity of rural Wales. She’s an Emily Dickinson scholar whose affair with a student has recently been discovered. Rather than face the shame and the marital and vocational consequences of her actions, she leaves without a word to anyone. At home, she's reported missing, and her husband, who flies into a rage and vandalizes his wife’s office at school, is briefly considered a person of interest in her disappearance.

Adopting the name Emelie, she rents an isolated cottage in the countryside and attempts to cut herself off from the outside world. It is Fall and mostly a solitary existence. She encounters the occasional wild badger and ten white geese on a nearby pond. The geese mysteriously dwindle in number over time. Emilie feels some responsibility for the maintenance of the geese and is dismayed each time the gaggle loses a member. Emilie’s exchanges with the local population are infrequent but memorable－a local chain smoking doctor who debates her about the social habits of the local badgers, the pleasant older couple who own the local bakery and the vaguely creepy shepherd who tends his flock on a neighboring farm.

After a time, a young man hiking through the countryside crosses the property. He’s injured his foot, and Emilie invites him in and agrees to let him stay the night. Without much fanfare or negotiation, he winds up staying with her much longer. The boy's motives are unclear, and Emilie seems content to keep him around to do projects on the property and to keep her company. It's later revealed that Emilie's health is deteriorating, and, as she becomes weaker, she loses her appetite and strength. The boy does the cooking, cares for her, and assumes the running of her errands.
Back home, her husband, the police and her parents are anxious to locate Emilie and determine if she is okay. Without evidence of a crime, the police have nothing to go on and decide not to investigate further. Without the aid of official help, Emilie’s husband hires a private detective to find her, and it’s this question that moves the story along through its conclusion.

Ten White Geese is a short novel, stripped to the bone, free of literary flourishes and undue embellishment. There are no plot fillers, extraneous scenes or unnecessary dialog. It's an exercise in literary minimalism, and its bare, exacting prose is part of its appeal. Leaving unsaid as much as it says, Ten White Geese challenges the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about matters of character motive and plot details. In telling this story, Gerbrand Bakker allows us to imagine what it might be like to be on the run from our own lives. Because it does not freely spill forth its contents, this is a novel that demands discussion and debate. (less)

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Mar 18, 2013 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

No question in my mind, no reservations, no doubts. This book is a 5 Star book. Period.

"Ten White Geese" was written in Dutch, translated to English and is the sparest, most beautiful book. The simple story unfurls as we follow the thoughts of a middle aged woman academic who has quit her post (or been fired) and fled the country. The woman's perspective is gentle, thoughtful, soft, realistic, resigned. She changes what she can change, accepts what she cannot and avoids unpleasantness whenever s...more

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Mar 21, 2013 PopcornReads rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: abandonment, amsterdam, animals, affair, bestselling-author, bestseller, birds, christmas, contemporary-fiction, cross-cultural, death, disappearance, dysfunction, fiction, general-fiction, grief, infidelity, isolation, literature, loss, love, mysteries-thrillers, psychology, relationships, secrets, suspense, wales

Ten White Geese by award-winning Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker is an international bestseller that has just been published in the U.S. This is one of those stories that is very hard to classify or describe. It’s definitely a mystery because we have no idea who Emilie really is or why she’s really come to live where she is. She’s a mysterious woman to all around her and to us. It’s also literary fiction because Bakker’s writing style is just superb. He has a way of paring the story down to its ess...more

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May 04, 2013 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: advance-readers, contemporary-writers, dutch-literature

A woman, a Dutch academic, flees her former life in Amsterdam for the solitude of a Welsh farm. Why? A love affair with a student that ended badly? Poor progress on her dissertation about Emily Dickinson, a subject for which she has developed an aversion? Before long she is joined by a young man who stays, and stays. Meanwhile, in Amsterdam her husband attempts to trace her with the help of a policeman with whom he has struck up a friendship. Underlying the descriptions daily life; hair cuts, tr...more

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May 23, 2012 Kristin Gleeson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

A Dutch woman rents a house in rural Wales in the middle of winter. Slowly as the story unfolds the reader learns what has brought this distressed woman so far from home as Christmas approaches. A young man and his dog arrives on her doorstep and seems to be a source of support. Back in Holland her husband tries to piece together the reason for her departure too. Each of them, increasingly isolated from the world that had so long shaped their lives, are trying to re-balance to find a new shape....more

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Jan 30, 2013 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, ebooks, netgalley

The woman appears almost mysteriously, renting the little cottage recently left empty after the previous owner died. She keeps to herself and spends her time fixing up the place. Enter the young man on a journey with his dog, and they all find a quiet existence together.

This was a very quiet, slow-moving story. It sort of reminded me of a little known Sean Connery movie called Five Days One Summer. Just slow and meandering, light on the dialogue, picturesque.

The setting for this story is a very...more The woman appears almost mysteriously, renting the little cottage recently left empty after the previous owner died. She keeps to herself and spends her time fixing up the place. Enter the young man on a journey with his dog, and they all find a quiet existence together.

This was a very quiet, slow-moving story. It sort of reminded me of a little known Sean Connery movie called Five Days One Summer. Just slow and meandering, light on the dialogue, picturesque.

The setting for this story is a very idyllic place, with things like “the kissing gate”, the stone circle, geese, pond, and charming bakers in town.

I had no idea how much of a "mystery" this story would be. The character Emily is mysterious. You don't know why she is at this cottage, and are given glimpses into her other life. You don't know who this boy is that shows up with his dog, or what his intentions are. What about the other characters? Who was the woman who lived in the cottage before Emily? And what about those darn geese and sheep? Who do they belong to?

There are allusions early on to Emily's failing health, but this isn't clarified until later on. Perhaps this is the reason she is so impersonal and nondescript. The boy is generally referred to as “the boy” and the dog as “the dog”. Names are rarely used. She doesn’t want to be personally involved, and wants to be alone.

My final word: This story was well-written, and beautifully descriptive, making it easy for me to see the green hills, stone walls, quaint cottage, elusive geese. I didn't realize just how much of a mysterious bent the story would carry, but I enjoyed it. And it really sparked an interest in Emily Dickinson, with little blurbs of Dickinson poetry throughout. My one complaint is that there were a few dangling plotlines that left me hanging. Characters and ideas would be introduced only to fade away, questions arose and were left unanswered. But overall I enjoyed it. If you enjoy a quiet story with beautiful scenery, give this one a shot.(less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century, review-copy, netherlands, 2013-iffp, 2013-iffp-shortlist

Eerie, and unputdownable.

It’s really hard to write much about Gerhard Bakker’s latest novel The Detour, without giving anything away. It reminded me in a way of another translated work that explored a young woman’s state of mind, but I’m not even going to name that one in case that becomes a spoiler. (So you have been warned, click the link (on my blog) at your peril!)

This is part of the blurb from the Scribe website:

A woman abandons her home in Holland without a word, leaving behind an impervio...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Mareike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: zur-rezension, gelesen-2012

Gerbrand Bakker hat einen außergewöhnlichen Roman über eine junge Frau geschrieben, die ihr altes Leben völlig hinter sich lässt. Sie packt ein paar Dinge ein und fährt einfach los, bis sie irgendwo an einem walisischen Berg stoppt und ein altes Farmhaus bezieht. Zu Beginn wird der Leser über die Gründe völlig um Dunklen gelassen und verzweifelt fast an der scheinbaren fehlenden Weitergabe von Informationen. Man begleitet die Frau auf ihren Erkundungen durch das walisische Land. Es gibt viele Be...more Gerbrand Bakker hat einen außergewöhnlichen Roman über eine junge Frau geschrieben, die ihr altes Leben völlig hinter sich lässt. Sie packt ein paar Dinge ein und fährt einfach los, bis sie irgendwo an einem walisischen Berg stoppt und ein altes Farmhaus bezieht. Zu Beginn wird der Leser über die Gründe völlig um Dunklen gelassen und verzweifelt fast an der scheinbaren fehlenden Weitergabe von Informationen. Man begleitet die Frau auf ihren Erkundungen durch das walisische Land. Es gibt viele Beschreibungen von der Umwelt. Der Autor berichtet allerdings aus dem Geschehen heraus, so dass es dem Leser wie eine Rückblende erscheint und nicht wie eine neue gewollte Richtung der Geschehnisse. Diese Art zu Schreiben ist meiner Meinung nach besonders, da sie durch prägnante, oft kurze Sätze, wenig erzählt und doch viel aussagt. Ich habe selten erlebt, dass eine Geschichte so von gelungenen Andeutungen und Hinweisen lebt. So merkt man zuerst gar nicht, dass kaum wirklich etwas passiert. Alles wird angedeutet und man darf sich das "Innenleben" dieser Andeutungen selbst mit Gedanken und Schlussfolgerungen füllen. Und nachdem auffällt, dass in der Gegenwart wenig geschieht, ist man von Vergangenem so gefangen genommen, dass man die Geschichte unbedingt bis zum Ende erleben möchte.

Mit der Zeit lernt man neben Agnes auch ihren Mann kennen, den sie in Amsterdam zurückgelassen hat. Man versteht durch seine Sicht auch endlich, was im Endeffekt zu Agnes' Flucht geführt hat und kann so das, was man aus der Geschichte von ihr kennt, völlig neu einordnen. Das Buch geht dabei in die Tiefe, obwohl die Charaktere selbst fast blass erscheinen. Das Buch ist in der Hinsicht ein kleiner Widerspruch in sich. Mit wenigen Aussagen schafft es der Autor, die Charaktere leben zu lassen und ihnen ein bestimmtes Image zu verpassen. Neben ihrem Mann, der erst verärgert und dann besorgt erscheint, tauchen weitere Figuren auf, die Agnes Leben direkt betreffen und verändern. Ein Beispiel ist der junge Bradwen, der von ihr aufgenommen wird und durch den sie selbst, genau wie ihr Garten, etwas aufblüht. Gleichzeitig bemerkt man durch den Gegensatz von Agnes und Bradwen überdeutlich, wie es wirklich um sie steht. Agnes lernt man natürlich noch am Besten kennen und nachdem man ihre Gründe erahnen kann, erkennt man auch, wie die Geschichte langsam fortschreitet und auf ein Ende hinweist, das auch völlig logisch erscheint.

Die Stimmung des Romans ist ebenfalls besonders. Auch wenn man anfangs nicht weiß, welche Probleme und Sorgen die Protagonistin ins nördliche Wales verschlagen haben, hat man fast immer das Gefühl, dass eine Schwere über der Geschichte liegt, die sich kaum fassen lässt. Eigentlich sind die Beschreibungen des Gartens, der Landschaft und der Leute nicht dermaßen traurig, wie man beim Lesen glaubt. Dazu trägt auch Agnes' Verbindung zu Emily Dickinson bei. Die amerikanische Dichterin wird oftmals zitiert und spielt in Agnes' Leben eine große Rolle. Vor ihrer überstürzten Abreise hat sie an einer Dissertation über Dickinson gearbeitet.

Bewertung
Der Umweg besticht durch eine wundervolle literarische Sprache und die zumeist vorherrschende melancholische Stimmung. In dem Roman geht es um ein Geben und Nehmen, um den Versuch irgendwie weiterzumachen und darum, ein Ende zu finden, das nicht schmerzt. Insgesamt ist die Geschichte von Agnes einfach berührend, traurig durch die vielen Andeutungen einfach lesenswert. (less)

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Jul 15, 2012 Elsje rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012

Wat een pareltje, deze roman van Gerbrand Bakker. Prachtig 'kaal' geschreven, zo passend in de sfeer van het landschap waar het verhaal zich afspeelt: het Welshe platteland van begin van de winter. Bakker laat veel van de innerlijke belevingswereld van zijn hoofdpersoon aan de verbeelding over, terwijl hij tegelijkertijd een prachtig en behoorlijk gedetailleerd sfeerbeeld van haar omgeving weet op te roepen: knap.

Het verhaal
Een docente wordt ontslagen nadat ze een ongepaste relatie heeft gehad m...more

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May 15, 2013 Victoria Mier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beautiful novel, melancholic but strong somehow. People often wonder about how successfully a writer can write about a character of the opposite sex, but Bakker writes his female main character 'Emilie' just beautifully. A bit of mystery, but mostly a rich exploration of someone trying to come to terms with herself and her life. Emilie, a university lecturer working on the poems of Emily Dickinson, whose work - or one poem - runs through the novel, has left her native Holland in the wake of a sc...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Tiffin-Seneca Public rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cm

This internationally bestselling title is finally available in English translation. The story centers on Emilie, an Emily Dickinson scholar, who has fled to a remote house in Wales from her home in Amsterdam. She encounters a man with a past connection to the house, and a strange young man who stumbles upon her new residence. For the most part, Emilie's loneliness is the story here, as well as the mystery as to why she fled her husband in Amsterdam at all. This is a very powerful and beautifully...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Marilyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'd give this a 5 for the writing alone. I was transported to Wales right away and didn't want to leave.

This is not an ordinary story; I realized half-way through I would barely find answers to a lot of questions. It was a rather aimless story but that is reality, right?

The author is Dutch and is a highly respected writer in the Netherlands. Perhaps Europeans see stories from a different perspective than Americans.

Definitely need to read a second and third time.

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Mar 25, 2013 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was better than I anticipated. A story about an Emily Dickinson scholar who abandons the life she's known. I wish there were more Dickinson, but ultimately quite a good read. Sparse in style, akin to The Stranger, it celebrates the beauty of life right in front of us, but without romanticizing any aspect of life or moralizing about what a good life is.

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May 04, 2013 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

the older I get, the more I like quiet books. This one sounds like snow falling.
A woman has an affair, quits her job, finds out she is ill and disappears to rural Wales.
That's pretty much it. Or is it?
For me this was a novel about departure and it came at a very opportune time.

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Mar 13, 2013 Kirk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

well, my premonition was half correct: this is a depressing story. But not so much so that I couldn't bear to finish it. In fact, it was rather compelling in a way that I'm not sure how to describe.

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Mar 29, 2013 Elizabeth Lawson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this book very much, even though I had to keep putting it down, fearful, as certain plot developments appeared. It is a mystery story, a love story, and a story of nature.

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Apr 08, 2013 Iris added it · review of another edition

Is this ever a confusing book. But beautifully written as well. I can't quite figure out what I feel and think about this one right upon finishing it. Except that that Dutch poem at the end brought tears to my eyes. And, perhaps, that I think the UK title, "The Detour", is more fitting than this US one.

Full review to follow.

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Apr 16, 2013 Ginny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Stark and spare language paints a haunting and beautiful picture. It is what I imagine running away as a grown up might feel like. Beautiful.

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Mar 12, 2013 Ellen Stowe montoya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

A very poignant story told in novel form. It was easy to feel in the middle of the story, no matter whose point of view was being narrated.

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title link	preview: De Omweg
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De Omweg

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