People with No Charisma
Jente Posthuma author Sarah Timmer Harvey translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Scribe Publications
Publishing:17th Jul '25
£9.99
This title is due to be published on 17th July, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
From the International Booker Prize–shortlisted author of What I’d Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia.
An unnamed narrator grows up overshadowed by her unconventional mother, an ex-Jehovah’s witness and former television star with an inferiority complex. Her father is the head of a psychiatric institution, whose only form of parenting is to offer his daughter the same life advice he dispenses to his patients. Reserved and somewhat aloof, he chooses not to intervene when his wife obsesses about charisma, calorie counting, and turning their daughter into a child prodigy.
Their daughter strives to meet her mother’s expectations and bond with her father while secretly worrying she lacks the drive or charisma to do anything significant with her life. When her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she begins to address their generational trauma, forge a new relationship with her father, and discover life on her terms. In twelve chapters — each reflecting a different phase of life — Posthuma expertly dissects a fraught family history, exposing the absurdity that often lies at the heart of life’s most poignant and challenging moments.
Praise for What I’d Rather Not Think About:
‘A unique story of a twin brother and sister, wryly funny and heartbreakingly sad. Her characters desperately try to make sense of our ever more complex world. This is a rare book. And Jente Posthuma is a treasure and a hell of a writer.’
-- Herman Koch, international bestselling author of The DinnerPraise for What I’d Rather Not Think About:
‘From the opening pages of this novel I had no idea where it was going, but I trusted Posthuma completely. Tender, offbeat, and deftly drawn — I loved it.’
-- Allee Richards, author of The Small Joys of Real LifePraise for What I’d Rather Not Think About:
‘[An] exquisitely vulnerable novel.’
-- Cameron Woodhead * The Sydney Morning Herald *Praise for What I’d Rather Not Think About:
‘What makes What I'd Rather Not Think About rise above the average mourning novel is its utter authenticity. Posthuma associates, philosophises, links memories to everyday actions, draws on films and television series, and tries to interpret in a laconic, light-footed, and pointed way. “Less is more” with Jente Posthuma. And again, she seems to be saying: nothing is “whole” here, in the subhuman. Everything rumbles, frays, and creaks.’
* The Telegraph *Praise for What I’d Rather Not Think About:
‘Despite its melancholic theme, What I’d Rather Not Think About is infused with a similarly subtle, almost self-effacing humour that in this case expresses the narrator’s bewildered, tremulous path through life … This slim novel is packed with allusions to popular and high culture, history, science, and current affairs, yet manages to feel simultaneously rich and uncluttered.’
-- Linda Jaivin * The Saturday PapISBN: 9781917189033
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
176 pages