In November by Dutch author Thomas Olde Heuvelt, happiness slowly drives the residents of Bird Street to madness.
Please note that this book has not been translated into English yet (Nov 2022). I’m sure it will be translated someday in the future, hence my publication of my book review in English. For now, please take a look at Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s translated books: HEX and Echo.
Location: Washington, US
November synopsis (own translation)
Welcome to Lock Haven, Washington, home to the happiest street in the United States. If you were to walk down Bird Street, you would see that the residents are prospering, because there are huge houses. And if you were to meet the residents, you would notice that they are all genuinely happy. They have successful careers, are doing exactly the things they always wanted to do, and they are all healthy. Physically, mentally and spiritually: they are all vital, thoughtful and – at least most of them – generous people. And their children? They are perfect. Every one of them is talented. A promise. You could say the residents of Bird Street are doing a little too well.
Until November comes around. Then the Darker Days arrive. Luana and Ralph know it, and so do their children Kayla and Django. Every year in November, their luck turns and they are instead beset by misfortune. There are the pains, the dumb luck, the financial setbacks. Periods of illness, mental confusion and depression. Usually nothing insurmountable, but they are better off if they lay low during the Darker Days. After about four weeks, it’s over and happiness returns…. but at a price.
Someone must die in the woods behind their home. If that doesn’t happen, disaster spreads. And every year Luana and Ralph ask themselves the question: how much is a human life worth?
With November, a modern twist on the classic Faustian pact, Thomas Olde Heuvelt provides an unprecedented dark insight into the human soul. A spectacular new highlight in his oeuvre.
Book review
What would you give to be good?
November has an interesting premise that immediately appealed to me after reading the synopsis. The setting of the story was cleverly chosen with translation for an international audience in mind.
Madness
The opening chapter immediately grabs your attention and the illuminated path over which the neighborhood residents walk sparks the imagination. Halloween is yet to come, but the magical feeling surrounding the celebration is already there. Fantasies take on a life of their own and chase you when you are in a possessed state. The subtitles of chapters hint at the doom that awaits, although this is more interesting to speculate about in the beginning than later in the book.
The main characters of this book are “real” people, each with their own weaknesses and moral dilemmas. The residents of Bird Street also change as the days pass and they begin to react differently to situations. The conversations become more and more toxic. You’re curious to see if you’ll start to see insane narrators.
The world in lockdown
“Humans are cannibals who, despite abundance, cannot resist targeting themselves.” (own translation)
As in his earlier books, Thomas Olde Heuvelt includes issues in the world in the story. The place name Lock Haven and the conversations about the persecution of Jews suggest to me a parallel with both a concentration camp and corona lockdowns. Continuing this line of thought, the question arises what we ourselves give up to regain our post-corona lockdown (or climate action) freedoms. What are we sacrificing to keep our vacations and other pleasures? Or who? As long as we ourselves are well off, right? But perhaps this issue is not present in the story at all and I am seeing ghosts.
This also shows once again that your own state of mind at the time of reading has a lot of influence on your perception: when I read the scene about the seven-month-old baby right after my own son who is the same age had cried a lot that day because of the flu, that scene felt differently than it would have a year earlier.
Breakdown
The suspense build-up at the beginning of the book until its climax in the middle of the book is well done. You have an inkling of the fate that awaits the residents. In the second part, the suspense holes itself up and the book turns into psychological novel. The horror elements are the same as we have already encountered in the first part. Now I think it’s fine when books evolve, but I was surprised when the “scary” stuff toned down and gave way to mainly the dark insight into the human soul. In that respect, this book is similar to Oracle; both books feel more mainstream than earlier books such as Harten Sara (Dutch only) and HEX. Perhaps I have read too many books by Thomas Olde Heuvelt and have become accustomed to his way of describing darkness.
After the suspense dies down a bit we get a long piece about Ralph and one of the other residents. By now the reader knows what’s going on in Lock Haven, so now it’s a matter of reading through to the denouement at the end. Somehow I was hoping that Levi’s role in the story would play out in a different way, as I felt the reaction of the Bird Street residents to his part was stronger than with the person the story continued about. The story is given a pragmatic ending. In the end, the balance straightens itself out. And the question that lingers for everyone: when do you want to reap your happiness?
Final thoughts
I enjoyed reading November. As always, Thomas Olde Heuvelt has a fine writing style. This book is more balanced than its predecessors. The author is getting more skilled and therefore manages to appeal to a wider audience. The downside is that the earlier wild passion I felt that led to absurd things is gone. That thought does not diminish my appreciation of this book, but illustrates my loss of fascinated wonder at interesting scenes. None of this alters the fact that I heartily recommend that everyone read this book: November is a good book that stands like a barbed-wire fence.
Interested?
Buy your copy of November (Dutch version) via Amazon.
Book details
Title: November
Author: Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Language: Dutch
Publisher: Boekerij
Pages: 464
ISBN (13): 9789022591116
Publication date: 1 November 2022
About the author
Thomas Olde Heuvelt is an international bestselling author who broke through with HEX. Since then, his work has been sold in more than 25 countries. The widely acclaimed Echo was recently published in the US and the rights to Oracle have also been sold worldwide. In 2015, he was the first Dutch author to win a Hugo Award.
