Julia and My Brother and Me
Fourteen-year-old Jakob is head-over-heels in love with Julia, and jealous of his older brother Esse. Esse has everything; he’s the star of the village, he’s going to be a professional footballer and Julia is his girlfriend. Until Jakob finds out, through Julia, that Esse’s professional career is by no means a certainty and that Esse is risking a great deal in his efforts to make his dream a reality. He turns out to have got involved in the trade in forbidden bodybuilding supplements. To impress Julia, Jakob tries to save his brother, but things don’t turn out the way he hoped. Both brothers are struggling with the same questions. Who are you? And can that correspond with who you are in someone else’s eyes?
A clever and sultry story in sensual language that shimmers between the linesHet Parool
In this sultry story, in which the summer heat is almost a character in its own right, Herman van de Wijdeven shows himself at his best, with extraordinarily well-drawn personalities, tension that winds to a fever pitch, sensual language and a lot that can be read between the lines. Yet there is also a clear plot that during a dramatic summer storm with a whirlwind builds to a filmic climax. The stress on physicality, which expresses itself in sensual desire as much as in affection and violence, is remarkably well constructed. ‘Julia and My Brother and Me’ is a dazzling portrait of two brothers, the writing assured and vivid.
Sentences that suggest so much more than is explicitly stated, evoking images and emotions that continue to reverberate. Herman van de Wijdeven is one of those authors for whom every word countsLeeswijzer
