Komt een vrouw bij de dokter

After reading multiple detective stories this summer I felt like something quite different and more real life.  So I picked "Komt een vrouw bij de dokter" (A woman arrives at the doctor).  I had heard somewhere about that book but didn't remember the context very well. Afterwards now I realised it is the most sold Dutch book ever and filmed and hyped in the Netherlands so no wonder I knew this title.

It has taken me many weeks to read the book and finish it. I struggled and wondered all the time whether I wanted to read this and why I'd finish it.  And yet it's raw honesty and the whirlwind of emotions kept me going to to the sad end eventually.

The story is about Stijn whose wife is diagnosed with cancer...an uncurable form of it.  His perfect glamour world (2 owned businesses, happy family with cute toddler, wild parties, ...) is shattered.  While he struggles with the fears ,frustrations and sadness of his wife's fight, his existing habit to cheat on his wife gets out of proportion. In fact, the main character is an incredibly unbearable asshole.

And yet he describes everything so vivid, so raw, so seemingly honestly that it is refreshing (although that word isn't appropriate in the context). He even got me convinced that in his own failing way did love his wife very much, as he did his mistress where he finds peace in the middle of the turmoil that his family has become. The last chapters are very moving and emotional but also beautiful.  The whole story is so chokingly real if you've lived through the fight against cancer from closeby....and seriously who hasn't lost anyone to this disease yet?   Reviews criticized the author by playing on such themes and emotions but it would be his own story, written after he lost his wife.

I'm not sure I want to recommend the book to anyone...because of its topic. If you do, have your tissues closeby.  I'll probably check his next novels though.