{"product_id":"the-evenings-by-gerard-reve","title":"'The Evenings' by Gerard Reve","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"152\" data-end=\"238\"\u003eTen winter evenings in postwar Amsterdam. Nothing happens, which is exactly the point.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"240\" data-end=\"541\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eIt caused a minor scandal on publication in 1946—too bleak, too trivial, too honest about what postwar life actually felt like when the grand narratives dropped away. It still reads that way. A novel of boredom that refuses to let boredom be neutral.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"240\" data-end=\"541\"\u003eFrits van Egters moves through a narrow circuit—home, visits, small talk, radio, bed—\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003econversations stall, jokes land badly, silences stretch. The war has ended, but whatever comes after it hasn’t quite begun. Time feels used up, or misallocated. Reve catalogues the banal with such hostility it becomes almost as though a surgery is being performed on oneself as you read, and you are forced to watch. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"543\" data-end=\"876\"\u003eBeneath the repetition is a low, persistent dread: of meaninglessness, of decay, of being trapped inside a life that never properly starts. Frits fills that space with nervous humour, petty cruelty, and a running commentary that edges toward something like existential panic. Well worth the time, despite not sounding as such, truly memorable read. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1160\" data-end=\"1224\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePushkin Press paperback (2017 edition, Sam Garrett translation). Very good condition. Light handling wear, clean throughout, no markings.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44507097104467,"sku":null,"price":16.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Untitleddesign-2026-04-19T125838.002.png?v=1776567537","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/the-evenings-by-gerard-reve","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}