My Funeral

Arnon, a guy who flitted from one romantic conquest to another before his death at a young age, looks back at his brief life. He is a would-be writer and a complete egotist who uses others for his own advantage. Empathy seems alien to him.

One by one, Maarten De Saeger tells the story of various people who played a role in Arnon’s life. Gradually it all comes together to form a mosaic that does not present Arnon in the best light. At the end of the book, De Saeger changes tack, confounding the reader’s expectations.

In spite of our lack of sympathy for this deeply unpleasant protagonist, Maarten De Saeger succeeds in captivating the reader right to the end. With a protagonist like Arnon, ‘My Funeral’ could become depressing, but De Saeger, with his sophisticated understanding of painful black humour, masterfully prevents this from happening. With fine lines and expressive characters, he perfectly transforms the flaws of the human species into pictures.