Quirky short novel with a tragicomic feel. Frans Laarmans is a rather lazy but well meaning clerk, who finds himself manipulated into taking a job importing Edam cheese from Holland and distributing it across Belgium. At first his ambition fires his enthusiasm but soon he realises he is out of his depth.
This was sweetly amusing rather than hilarious, and even tinged at times with melancholy as Laarmans contemplates the effect of his inept salesmanship on his family. It is a satire on the world of business, told in sparse and straightforward prose. The way that Laarmans slips back into his comfort zone of creating clerical systems is perceptively depicted and his talent for procrastination provides some memorable moments.
3.5* for me, but I rounded up for its charm and originality.
This was sweetly amusing rather than hilarious, and even tinged at times with melancholy as Laarmans contemplates the effect of his inept salesmanship on his family. It is a satire on the world of business, told in sparse and straightforward prose. The way that Laarmans slips back into his comfort zone of creating clerical systems is perceptively depicted and his talent for procrastination provides some memorable moments.
3.5* for me, but I rounded up for its charm and originality.