After winning the lottery, Tijmen Klein Gildekamp has a
normal reaction. He takes off. Tijem and his girlfriend, a masseuse named
Angel, run from everyday life or is it from their past?
Readers who identified with Tijmen
in Arnold Jansen op de Haar’s King of
Tuzla will enjoy catching up with him, but Angel does not feel like a sequel. In fact, an underlying theme is
that Tijmen seems to be wrestling with his identity, but he starts by recognizing
that he is focusing on a post-Bosnia Tijmen. Still, he and Angel both look to
their families past to discover connections in the Dutch underground, and in
Angel’s case, with German collaborators. Together they reach a point of
recognition, an understanding, perhaps even an enlightened view that who they
are in the here and now is what matters most. It is clear they could succeed in
finding happiness, if only the rest of the world, perplexed editors
and former boyfriends, would leave them alone.
Jansen op de Haar continues to
demonstrate a rare talent of writing succinctly, yet with impact. His chapters
are short, but they draw the reader in and keep one moving through the story.
The most refreshing aspect of Angel
is that like Tijmen, one can sense they are reading Jansen op de Haar again,
his voice is recognizable, but Angel
does not feel like the same formula revisited, as is sometimes common among
authors today. Angel makes a nice
edition for those who enjoy books of romance, adventure, and self-reflection.
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