Bonita Avenue by Peter Buwalda
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Blurb: Professor Siem Sigerius-maths genius, jazz lover, judo champion, Renaissance man. When Aaron meets his girlfriend Joni’s family for the first time, her multitalented father could hardly be a more intimidating figure, but somehow the underachieving photographer manages to bluff his way to a friendship with the paterfamilias. With his feet under the table at the beautiful Sigerius farmhouse, Aaron feels part of a perfect family. Until, that is, things start to fall apart. A cataclysmic explosion in a fireworks factory, the advent of Internet pornography, the reappearance of a discarded, dangerous son, and a jet-black wig-all play a role in the spectacular fragmentation of the Sigerius clan… and of Aaron’s fragile psyche. (Pushkin Press, April 2014)
Anthony Cummins, The Telegraph
“… a new writer as toe-curling as early Roth, as roomy as Franzen and as caustic as Houellebecq. Don’t let me forget to mention Jonathan Reeder’s note-perfect English translation.”
James Kidd, The Independent
“No one is especially likeable, but Buwalda knows how to tease his reader with addictive story lines. A considerable achievement for a seasoned writer much less a newcomer, Bonita Avenue is an entertaining end in itself, and evidence that Buwalda is just getting started.”
Elizabeth Buchan, The Daily Mail
“Fluent and complex, uncompromising and occasionally shocking, Bonita Avenue exposes a domestic dystopia where madness, violence and dark sexuality are seen to be only a hair’s breadth away.”
Kate Saunders, The Times
“…critics hailed Buwalda as “The Dutch answer to Jonathan Franzen”, but his brilliance is entirely unique.”
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