Raoul de Jong – Diary of an Adolescent, Notes of a Peerless Prodigy
Raoul de Jong – Diary of an Adolescent, Notes of a Peerless Prodigy
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About the book
Who can reread their adolescent diaries without feeling embarrassed? Most diaries end up left in a forgotten box, tossed on the fire or put through a shredder. So Raoul de Jong sees the author of his diaries not as his younger self but as ‘a twelve-year-old monster who, with a great sense of drama, stars in his own Beverly Hills 90210 inspired soap opera’. De Jong analyses excerpts of his diary in which insurrections, burgeoning love affairs, broken hearts and existential crises come thick and fast. With hilarious results.
‘When, at the age of four, Raoul wanted to go to reception class wearing a pink bow in his hair, his mother thought that was fine. When, aged eight, Raoul fell in love with her Barbies which he had found in his grandparents’ attic, she took him along to Barbie collectors’ fairs. And when his mother was thirty-four and Raoul nine, they had got into the car and she had asked: “Where we shall we go?” Raoul was a fan of Brigitte Bardot that summer and said: ‘Paris.’ It took them two days to get there, because Raoul did the map-reading.’
‘I am amazed at his youthful exuberance. What a book! (Fantastic hair too by the way)’ DAVID SEDARIS, author
‘Funny and recognisable.’ COSMOPOLITAN
Author
Raoul de Jong (b. 1984) has written columns for Spunk, NRC Handelsblad and Het Parool, as well as publishing five books. His first book was awarded the Dick Scherpenzeel Prize, and his most recent, The Indescribable Greatness of It All, was proclaimed Best Rotterdam Book. He is now writing a book about Suriname and its slave history.
Additional book information
- Popular non-fiction
- ISBN 9789403110905
- Number of pages: 128
- World rights: De Bezige Bij
- Price: € 14,99
- English sample translation available