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    June
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    June
    Unavailable
    June
    Ebook307 pages4 hours

    June

    By Gerbrand Bakker

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    A visit from the Queen, a tragic accident, a divided family: a masterful new novel from the prize-winning Gerbrand Bakker.

    On a hot summer’s day in June 1969, everyone is gathered to welcome Queen Juliana. The boys and girls wave their flags enthusiastically. But just as the monarch is getting into her car to leave, little Hanne Kaan and her mother arrive late — the Queen strokes the little girl’s cheek and regally offers Anna Kaan her hand.

    It would have been an unforgettable day of celebration if only the baker hadn’t been running late with his deliveries and knocked down Hanne, playing on the roadside, with his brand-new VW van.

    Years later, Jan Kaan arrives on a hot day in June in order to tidy his sister’s grave, and is overcome again with grief and silent fury. Isn’t it finally time to get to the bottom of things? Should the permit for the grave be extended? And why won’t anyone explain to his little niece Dieke why grandma has been lying up in the hayloft for a day and a half, nursing a bottle of Advocaat and refusing to see anyone?

    June traces in spellbinding, tender detail how the ripples from one tragic incident spread through a community, a family, and down the generations.

    PRAISE FOR GERBRAND BAKKER

    ‘The portrayal of the Kaan family is impressive, not to say deeply moving … June is a heartrending novel, with a tone entirely its own.’ The Daily North

    ‘Bakker once again proves himself a master at creating atmosphere. Abundant sensuous details pervade the reader’s consciousness: the mother’s hips that shrink and grow on her bicycle saddle, the swallows flying soundlessly in and out, the damp concrete floor that heralds a shower of rain … Bakker is and remains every inch a writer.’ Trouw

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribe Publications
    Release dateJun 24, 2015
    ISBN9781925307078
    Unavailable
    June
    Author

    Gerbrand Bakker

    Gerbrand Bakker was born in 1962. He studied Dutch language and literature and worked as a subtitler for nature films before becoming a gardener. Bakker won the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel The Twin (Vintage, 2009) and the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for his novel The Detour (Vintage, 2013).

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    Reviews for June

    3.5/5

    43 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      His first two books are among my all time favourites, but I felt "June" was not up to that very high standard.I found the book slightly disjointed (I'm an old and old-fashioned reader who prefers a more linear story) and it seemed to be lacking in character focus that had been such a feature of his other works. I suppose I have to admit that I didn't empathize with any of these characters - showing my age again, I guess.
    • 4/5
      June – A tender storyJune is the second book by Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker which is a masterful and tender novel how the ripples of a tragic incident has spread throughout the family and into the local community through the generations. It also asks us to look at ourselves and how would we respond to such a tragic incident and the death of a child, and how it would affect you and those around you.The Story begins and ends with the appearance of Queen Juliana and an official visit to the district of Wieringerwaard, that took place on 17th June 1969 and ends with her appearance on the 18th June. The Queen was well known for breaking with protocol and that is seen in this story when a woman and her daughter arrive late drawing her attention to them even while her staff are trying to move her on. That woman was Anne Kaan and her two year old daughter Hanne, who are central to this moving story.This novel is an interesting story in to the complexities that can lie behind something that looks so simple and his powerful descriptions that makes you look twice or in my case read the passage a second time to get my head round it.June is set in the countryside and all the characters are based around the Kaan farm and what happened on that tragic day in 1969, but looking at their perspective years later as well as at the time. We see the events unwind in the narrative through the perspective of the Kaans as well as the baker and try as they might they have not really moved on, and have never forgotten. The death of Hanne is the dark shadow that haunts this story and the characterisation is built around that and their perspective upon that shadow.June reminds us as much as we grow old we never really lose touch with our younger self try as we may and we see that with the characters who despite forty years passing can still remember themselves on that day in freeze frames and that comes through in the setting. One could also comment on how even as we get older we can never really move on in life from tragic events and we can see that in the slow dereliction of the farm.We see how the Kaan brothers are all suffering the same psychological blow and that they seem to encapsulate it in life and that their mother Anne routinely takes the hay loft for days on end. Often leaving you to ask yourself how would I react if it had been my child or sibling and so drawing a sympathetic stance from the reader towards most of the characters.This is a wonderful story and examination of tragedy and its affect, to use the psychological tool known as the ripple effect this gives that a very thorough examination. There is a wonderful stillness throughout the story an examination of emotions especially when June 17th comes round. One can also see the family as broken as it is emotionally that the communal sorrow of the family along with the constant bickering goes on.A wonderful quiet story, an interesting examination of loss and emotions, as well as looking back at the younger self. June is a haunting but beautiful portrayal of emotional restraint that leaves an impression on you long after you have finished the novel.