Thinking of Bruce Kennedy

In Thinking of Bruce Kennedy, Koch describes the appeal of a glamorous existence, the certainties of an artistic elite, and the value of an ordinary life.

In Thinking of Bruce Kennedy Mirjam Wenger spends a week alone in southern Spain. Her life with director Bernhard and their two children is wearing her down and she has had enough of the Amsterdam artists’ scene. In her hotel she meets Bruce Kennedy, an older but still world-famous American film star. Despite his age and drinking problem, Mirjam feels irresistibly attracted to him. Does she try to seduce him to have a great story to tell her friends back home, or is she looking for an escape from Dutch mediocrity?

‘Thinking of Bruce Kennedy shows us Koch at his best.’ Vrij Nederland

‘Koch has outdone himself. His heroine is beautiful, tragic and believable.’ De Groene Amsterdammer

‘Koch has put it all ingeniously together. His humour is as restrained as his style. A powerful novel, without cannonballs whizzing past your ears. And yet the ending will keep ringing in your head long after you have finished reading it.’ Het Parool

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‘The Ditch is another Great Watergraafsmeerian Novel.’ *** NRC Handelsblad

‘It is not just a page-turner, there are also plenty of belly laughs to be had.’ – **** HET PAROOL

‘An excellent thrilling book.’ Blazer (Israel)

'Gripping and disturbing and unexpected. [Koch] spares no one, least of all his readers.’ HERALD SUN

‘An intelligent, psychologically complex novel, exploring the boundaries of morality.’ STERN

‘War at Last is a subtle parody of all post-war war literature.’ de Volkskrant

‘Thinking of Bruce Kennedy shows us Koch at his best.’ Vrij Nederland

‘A novel both hilarious and poignant that turns everything on its head so often that you end up not knowing which is which: fiction or reality.’ GPD

‘We think Koch is a great writer. A fantastic anthropologist. He knows our quirks and our weaknesses, our desires and our fears, our poses and our hypocrisy. He has an eagle eye for the small, all-revealing gesture. He has the gift of plain language and, perhaps more importantly, the talent to capture the madhouse he believes the world to be and the pointlessness that he sees all around him in prose that almost always surprises and, yes, very often makes you laugh. That is pretty unique.’ De Standaard

‘From the second line, “You must have heard of me”, you wish him the worst.’ de Volkskrant

'Herman Koch's satirical masterpiece Save Us, Maria Montanelli should be compulsory reading in all schools.' De Volkskrant

Koch commands his metier with an effortless superiority. De Volkskrant

Wie Koch kent, weet gemanipuleerd te gaan worden, met onweerstaanbare vertellers en superieure ironie. En ook nu weer krijgt hij je in de tang NRC