The Hairdresser’s son by Gerbrand Bakker

Dutch fiction

Original title – De Kapperzoon

Translator – David Colmer

It is always nice to read books from a writer you loved and read some years ago and rediscover. One such writer is Gerband Bakker I had read his first two books to be translated into English The twin which won the IFFP I was there when he won and did briefly meet him. He also kindly answered a few questions some years ago. So when I was given a chance to read his latest book. I love his life. He is a gardener and skating instructor in the winter and a writer, and also a cycling fan. Have you read the earlier books when they came out. He touches on similar themes in this book.

Igor is swimming. Or rather, swimming’s not the right word.

He doesn’t have a clue about breaststroke or crawl, by the looks of it nobody’s ever been able to teach him how to swim. He’s moving through the warm, shallow water. He’s sloping forward and seems to keep realising how much easier walking was before he got in the pool. His bends his legs, forgets to close his mouth, and gulps chlorinated water. He splutters and burps. Every now and then he shouts something. The woman in the bright-orange swimming costume shouts back at him. Igor! Don’t shout!’ The other woman, the one in the floral costume, hushes him and says,

‘Close your mouth, Igor. If you go under water, you have to close your mouth.’ The two women make sure nobody drowns.

He swims most days doing laps , reminded me to get back into swimming as I did reguarley go a couple years ago.

The book is about a father-and-son relationship that never happened. Simon grew up without his father, but he then strangely followed his father into being a hairdresser. But when one of his customers, a writer he seems to have connected beyond a customer to Simon, but he is very interested in Simon’s life, is this how Gerbrand here this story? , takes a real interest in the story of his father, Cornelis, who, when told of Simon coming, ran off and happened to be on a flight to Tenerife that crashed. I feel Simon’s point of life is similar to mine. You are in your forties. Everything is set in your routine, life, and daily activities his daily swim and the connection with his posts of famous swimmers. . But what happens when he tries to find out something about Cornelis and then sees his name isn’t on the memorial to those who died in the crash. He had been told his father’s body had never been found; this ends up reading Simon to the island after getting stonewalled by his mum. and grandmother about the past. Is there more to the events in the past? What will he find when he goes there?

Jan lights a cigarette. The smoke blows into Simon’s face. He stands up and starts reading the names on the metal plates. Is that zinc? Bronze? He reads them all and has already shuffled around the corner before he realises he’s reading from A to Z.

A moment later he sees that another name has been added. At the end of the row of names, around another corner, a plate has been screwed onto the stone plinth: OF THE VICTIMS NOT BURIED HERE, THE FOLLOWING NAMES HAVE BEEN ADDED AT THE REQUEST OF THE NEXT OF KIN. Then he looks at his grandfather.

When he finds his fathers name isn’t on the memorial to those who dided in the crash !

This is a book that twists slowly. We meet a man in mid-life who is settled and, on the whole, maybe in a little depressed state. His life is an everyday normal routine. The writer’s questions are the spark that changes the book’s direction. It makes Simon want to question his own past, and when the answers from his only family aren’t there or just don’t seem right, he questions what happened and wonders more about his father. It is about that gap in his life. What would have happened had the father been there? Why did he run? He wants the answer but also to unravel the past in the present. Add to that the writer. I  do wonder if it is a story. Gerband himself  has heard himself at hairdressers. I remember the place I went to as a young man. A hairdresser had been there for years and would talk about his life with customers, but most had been coming for years. I do wonder if that is the kernel Gerbrandf spun the story out of this revelation from someone. He deals so well with secrets the past and how people deal with that Bakker. He is a wonderfully paced writer as we follow Simon on his journey. Have you read any of his books?

Winston’s score—A. Who was Cornelis, and why did he run? Will Simon discover who his father really was and what happened? This is a great book about missing fathers and the past.