About the book

Campert’s debut novel, Life is Grrreat, was originally published in 1961. Its theme, the failure, ultimately, of love’s ideal, is expressed in an airy manner, its melancholy filtering through irony and word-play. Two friends, Mees and Boeli, come upon a sixteen-year-old girl called Panda. Marijuana (‘Marry-you-Anna’) is smoked, free love is in its heyday and there is much aimless  and  carefree  sauntering through  the  park.
 

No one has managed so well as Remco Campert to capture in words the light-hearted and joyful. The novel was an instant success and developed into a classic. This year the film version was released by Sigma Films, with Frans Weisz directing.