Archive by Author
Book Review: You Have Me to Love Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 30, 2016
Continuing the research of Dutch literature, the latest Dutch novel I’ve picked is Birk by Jaap Robben. Robben, born in Ooosterhout in 1984, is a writer, theatre producer and poet. Before 2014, Robben had mostly published children and teen novels and books. Birk is his first adult novel and was received with great praise. It won the 2014 Nederlandse Boekhandels…
The Wonders of Belgium Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 23, 2016
In the wake of the terrible attacks in Brussels, I would like to dedicate this post to Belgium. There are many ties between the Netherlands and Belgium. Belgium is not only the southern neighbor of the Netherlands, but was also part of the Netherlands until the Belgian revolution which lasted from 1830 to 1839. Living in the Netherlands…
Book Review: The Latecomer by Dimitri Verhulst Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 16, 2016
De Laatkomer or “The Latecomer” for the English translation by Dimitri Verhulst is a witty yet serious novel. Verhulst was born in Belgium on October 2nd, 1972 and published his first book Assevrijdag in 1994. By the time he published De Laatkomer, Verhulst had published 17 other novels, poetry collections and plays. The summary for De Laatkomer said the following: a…
Problems for the Dutch Railway NS Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 9, 2016
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen or the NS has been in the news (again) because of complaints from several organizations. The most notable of these organizations is the Stichting Consumentenclaim. This organization has been filling the NS with complaints from users because they do not have a seat on the train, and many people have to travel like sardines…
Follow Up: 4 Things I Dislike about the Netherlands Posted by Karoly Molina on Mar 3, 2016
Last week I wrote about 4 things I disliked about the Netherlands, and I must say I was quite happy with the number and the variety of the comments the post received. Several of you included things you dislike about the Netherlands that I didn’t write about so I would like to compile everyone’s comments…
4 Things I Dislike about the Netherlands Posted by Karoly Molina on Feb 24, 2016
I’ve lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years and I think in this time, I have been able to see a good variety of Dutchness. There are plenty of things I like, but there are some things I find simply vervelend. I decided to compose a list of 4 things I dislike about the Netherlands…
Volkskrant: I am not Dutch Posted by Karoly Molina on Feb 17, 2016
The writer for the Volkskrant, Nadia Ezzeroili, published a very interesting and controversial column titled Ik ben geen Nederlander: Nederland en ik, we gaan uit elkaar. In this column, Ezzeroili begins by comparing her relationship with the Netherlands as that to a partner or spouse. She recomends that maybe it is time for both to go to…