Reports from the Void

Dimitri Verhulst’s (fictional) work often draws more or less explicitly on his youth and his personal experiences. ‘Reports from the Void. Undated diaries’ is not a novel but an ego document: a collection of excerpts from letters and diary-style notes. 

Right from page one we realise that the author is not in a good place. We only find out why at the end. Until then, Verhulst gives us a bleak glimpse of his path to self-destruction. Excessive amounts of alcohol, cigarettes and cocaine combined with too little sleep and morose thoughts.

The fact that it has come to this has everything to do with a false accusation of rape by the ex with whom he lived in Sweden. Verhulst is at risk of being extradited to face trial in Sweden. The fear of being seen as a rapist by both the press and the public totally destabilises his life and feeds his addiction. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel, when the author sings the praises of all-consuming love and seeks out the peace and quiet of the French countryside with his girlfriend Tutut and her dog.

In ‘Reports from the Void’ the dark recesses of the mind are chronicled with both stylistic bravura and humour. A book in the tradition of Charles Bukowski, Bohumil Hrabal and Jeroen Brouwers.