Rituals [1980/92] – ★★★★

“He regarded life as a rather odd club of which he had accidentally become a member and from which one could be expelled without reasons having to be supplied”(Cees Nooteboom, translated from the Dutch by Adrienne Dixon [1980/1992]).

This novel centres on a man who drifts through life aimlessly as though in a haze, writing horoscopes and dealing in art for a living, albeit possessing money. Preoccupied with control, or rather the lack of it, Inni Wintrop lets events in his life happen to him, rather than actively trying to change something, while his guiding forces in life inexplicably become two very strange men – apathetic recluse Arnold Taads, and his son, distant and mysterious Philip Taads. Intensely philosophical, witty and sharp, the novel illuminates life as seen through our routines, mirages, actions, inactions and the influence of others.

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