Today I finished reading "Godin van de jacht" (English title: Goddess of the hunt) by Heleen van Royen. When I was visiting ukkepuk last week, she thought I would like this book. So when I woke up early in the morning (around 8) while staying there, I started reading this book and was immediately captivated. I read over 200 pages that day, which is fairly uncommon for me since I am usually just able to read about 100 pages per day if I am REALLY interested. So I was pleasantly surprised about that. Once I came home I was distracted by several other things, until this morning. I read the remaining 50 pages or so. All the time I just wanted to finish the story because I wanted to know how all the characters would develop.
It was a wonderful reading experience thanks to many different elements in the writing style and the story. Often I had to keep track of the time line, because there were a lot of flashbacks and flashbacks in flashbacks. So a lot of levels of time. The way the writer interleaves the main story line with the thinking process of the main character, Diana, and also often throws in a block of cold facts whenever things get relatively emotional in the story is absolutely brilliant. The thinking process mainly consists of characters popping up with remarks or questions as most of us have when we are dealing with something emotional.
Even though the sexual aspects of the story were quite interesting, I loved the emotional and rational processes Diana goes through and it was lovely to see the influence of those processes on her behaviour. And this was exactly what made this such an interesting book. As if you can look into the head and hart of a woman and get to learn from the processes she goes through. But it also gave me a broader perspective of relationships (in a broad sense) between people and how they influence each other.
I was pleasantly surprised by the character of Kofi who seemed rather stuck on his own standards, but in actuality he is very open-minded and is very supportive of whatever choices are made by Diana, yet staying within his own beliefs somehow.
I haven't enjoyed a book this much since "Meester van de dromen" (English title: The Master Of Lucid Dreams) by Olga Kharitidi, which I read about two years ago and at a pace of about 60 pages per day (and I already thought that was fast for my standards). I have really (re)discovered the fun of reading books. :)

If only my high school Dutch-teacher could see this... She would be thrilled. :P

Info:
(I copied this from http://www.rights.nl/result-titel.asp?titel=Goddess%20of%20the%20hunt, because you can never be sure when websites change and I wouldn't want to invalidate links. Oh, and I corrected some spelling errors they made.)

Goddess of the hunt
Heleen van Royen
Literature & Fiction

Hardcover | 288 p.
ISBN: 9050004814
Vassallucci

About Goddess of the hunt
Heleen van Royen presents her brave heroin Diana: Diana loves her husband Diana is keeping up her life as a mother of her twin sons Diana is always on the hunt for fun and sex Diana is full of unconventional wisecracks Diana speaks her heart without restraint Diana is the voice of many women: Diana tells everything a modern woman wants to tell but is afraid to say With her husband Oscar and her two children, Diana de Wit makes up for the mainstay of Dutch society. Diana pays her taxes, she separates her kitchen waste and doesn't have a criminal record. She is in fact a model citizen, as for one detail: Diana has lovers. To her the idea that her marital love life will die a silent death is unbearable. Diana is happy with three men: her husband Oscar, her older lover Tim and her fresh chat lover Joshua. If you're happy, you'll become careless. Diana dangles her wedding ring out of the car window and looses it. The incident marks a crisis in her existence. Goddess of the Hunt is a humorous and moving novel about love, sex and open marriage.

Quotes
Coming soon “Goddess of the Hunt is a sexy, arousing, engagingly written and sometimes uncommonly funny account of a self-aware woman in a world of emoticons, Bacardi Breezers, Calvin Klein underwear and vacuum-packed sperm.” -- Knack

Heleen van Royen takes devilish delight in shooting to pieces the fluffy pink delusions surrounding pregnancy and family life […] Goddess of the Hunt is an exceptionally enjoyable novel.” -- Thomas van den Bergh, Elsevier

Excerpt of the book