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Jos van der Meer - Pijnlijk Paradijs
posted by: stengels on 3 February 2010
Own release
You all probably heard about the book that was written about Richie Backfire. Here's a review of the book by BEF.
Pijnlijk Paradijs by Jos van der Meer
© 2010 Uitgeverij Aspekt,
info@uitgeverijaspekt.nl, www.uitgeverijaspekt.nl
ISBN-13: 978-90-5911-891-1
Early December 2009 I got an email from my friend Dave about a Dutch novel based on the life of Richard Bruinen, drummer for M-town hardcore band Backfire. Richard had taken his own life ten years ago because of a severe youth trauma (sexual abuse) he had never managed to overcome. The book was written by a newspaper reporter, Jos van der Meer, and was due to come out sometime before Christmas 2009.
As I am from Maastricht (M-town) myself and have had the pleasure of knowing Richard personally, I was curious about this news that seemed to have come from out of nowhere. At first I was pleased with the new attention regarding the life and death of Ritchie Backfire, and I wondered who and how many of my friends had been interviewed for this book. So, I asked Santa nicely if I could have the book for Christmas and if he was willing to drop it underneath the Christmas tree.
I suppose my girlfriend overheard my drunken prayers to a non-existent Santa and decided to grant my wish. She ordered the book online and told me to expect it as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately, or should I say fortunately, the book did not arrive until the first week of January 2010. By then the first online criticism had already appeared and as a result I had already started asking questions to some of the people who, in life, had been close friends to Richard.
The answers and the available online information regarding Pijnlijk Paradijs increased my interest in the novel, and at the end of week one I started what proved to be the most difficult task of 2010 thus far: reading Pijnlijk Paradijs. So far, the book has only appeared in Dutch. I very much doubt that it will ever come out in English, or any other language for that matter, so let me translate the title for you: Painful Paradise.
Writer Jos van der Meer is a journalist for renowned Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad and claimed in several interviews that his research regarding hardcore punk had been thorough. On the back of the novel he states that, besides the book being about sexual abuse, it also gives a clear insight on the hardcore scene.
Now here’s a funny thing: before reading the book I checked out a radio interview with Van der Meer and heard him say that he went to several hardcore shows and hardcore house parties with his daughter to gain intel. It made me wonder what the hell he had been checking out house parties for. Already I started to fear the worst but like I said, it also made me grow more anxious.
As stated earlier on, Van der Meer decided to base his story on (what seems loosely) the life (and death) of Richard Bruinen. For instance, he changed the name of the main character Richard into Pepijn Treffers. Right Direction (Richard’s first band) became Right Noise and Backfire became Headfire. Strangely enough, Van der Meer decided to use both fictional names as well as non-fictional ones. For some odd reason he decided not to change the names of, for instance, Backfire/ Headfire guitar player Wybrand or Richard’s tattooist, Tattoo Guus, at all.
This lack of inspiration is not what I blame Van der Meer mostly for. From the very beginning of the novel, it is quite clear that the writer has absolutely no clue as to what hardcore punk is and what the music means to the musicians and the fans. Throughout the story Van der Meer proves time and time again that he is not capable of distinguishing the two styles of hardcore music (hardcore punk and hardcore house) from each other. For a guy who claims to have witnessed several live performances, this is bad, bad journalism, to say the least, and a direct insult to the intelligence of any person from either of the two scenes.
The musicians in the book consequently call their music sound, degrading hardcore to nothing more than noise where lyrics are for the most part irrelevant. In an interview Van der Meer claims to have been inspired by some punk bartender, who referred to the music as sound. Now the bartender may have revered sound, the writer does certainly not. Disrespect and plain arrogance are all over his book.
One can wonder why on earth a journalist like Van der Meer would write a novel on this subject without getting his facts right. Well, to start with the first part, ten years ago, Van der Meer, a victim of sexual abuse himself, claimed to have been inspired by an article on Richard Bruinen in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. While reading the article, Van der Meer saw parallels between Richard’s tormented existence and his own. It convinced him to one day re-tell (t)his story.
Now this may seem noble but one can also regard this as a cheap means of using another man’s pain for self-medication and success. The latter is not something that is prohibited by law but if one decides to do so, at least have the decency to inform the relatives of the deceased. Van der Meer chose to write the novel without informing or interviewing anyone, claiming it to be unnecessary because of the fictional nature of the work.
Unfortunately Van der Meer also chose to advertise the book as a novel based on the life of Richard Bruinen, as a result leaving friends, relatives and anyone interested reader with certain expectations regarding the accuracy. Let me tell you, there are parts based on real-life events but nothing really comes close except for certain names used.
For instance, Van der Meer decided to let Right Noise tour Europe with real-life NYHC legends Warzone. In fact, this really occurred in 1995 when Right Direction and Warzone toured Europe together. At the time, Richard Bruinen was not in the band anymore but came along as a roadie. In his novel Van der Meer chose to let the Warzone guys admit to having sex with minors on tour. Now this reeks of defamation and according to law no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
Luckily for Van der Meer, charismatic Warzone frontman Raybeez died of pneumonia in 1997, after which Warzone broke up. The above mentioned insinuation clearly shows Van der Meer’s lack of respect for the deceased. Not informing the parents of Richard but still advertising the novel as being based on the life of their son, already proved that towards the living.
The writing style of the novel is very straight forward and simple, probably because that’s how Van der Meer thinks of us hardcore kids. Furthermore, I don’t like his vision on tattoos. Van der Meer seems to imply that people who rock ink do this out of some sort of problematic mental state of mind. True, often there is a story behind the art but most of the times it is not one of pain and sorrow.
I could go on ranting and raving about how bad Pijnlijk Paradijs is and lighten up detail after detail but bottom-line is, if you read this, you probably don’t speak Dutch and chances are you will never find a copy in any other language. Also, I don’t think there will ever be a repress in Dutch. That’s just how bad I think this novel is. If you are still interested, email the publisher and ask for a free copy. This piece of shit ain’t worth jack.
BEF
Maastricht, February 3rd 2010
Rating: 
Views: 2641
Related bandprofile: Jos van der Meer
Comments
| Author |
Message
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| David |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (15:36) |
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Goede review!  |
| Paul |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (15:37) |
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| on the money befke! nice and accurate review. |
| stengels |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (16:28) |
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agreed met wat die ouwe lullen boven mij zeggen  |
| corjan |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (16:43) |
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| headfire... geweldige vondst! |
| arjenkoole |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (16:46) |
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| Good review! |
| Joost78 |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (18:15) |
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| Cool... Echter: waarom een Engelstalige recensie van een boek dat alleen in het Nederlands te krijgen is? |
| stengels |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (18:56) |
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@Joost (en ook in het algemeen, had hier ook al een pm-tje over)
Daar hebben we het even over gehad, uiteindlijke voor Engels besloten omdat
1) Dat consistent is met de rest van de content van AsIce
2) Er ook over Amerikaanse bands met naam en toenaam gesproken wordt, en die mensen wellicht ook wel willen weten wat er over hun geschreven wordt/ Bef zn mening daarover (niet dat we nou hordes US-bezoekers hebben, maar al zijn het er maar een paar dan is het het al waard) |
| born to expire |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (20:11) |
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Bedankt voor de reacties. Ik zie echter dat er een kleine fout in de recensie geslopen is.
Hier volgt de rectificatie: Now the bartender may have revered sound, the writer does certainly not.
Lijkt me duidelijk waar deze dient te staan.  |
| securitron |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (21:08) |
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| IJzersterke review. Goed geschreven, goed onderbouwd. |
| xdrankx EBC |
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Posted on 03.02.2010 (22:41) |
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| Complimenten voor het engels taalgebruik en de opbouw. boek kan me verder gestolen worden. |
| dogfight |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (00:48) |
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| nette review.. mooi om het proces hier vanaf december op het blauweboard gevolgd te hebben. |
| Nils |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (11:04) |
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| lijken prikkerij dus.... |
| Widmar |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (13:02) |
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| Goeie review! |
| Billy Gibbons |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (13:12) |
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Complimenten dat je het boek uit hebt kunnen lezen ! Ik kreeg het niet voor mekaar.
Coole review! |
| Lloyd Doesburg |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (18:14) |
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| Zet de reactie van John Franko hier ff neer |
| Rogier |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (22:08) |
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| Goede review. Treurig, zo niet schandalig, dat zoiets op de markt komt natuurlijk. |
| Rudeless |
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Posted on 04.02.2010 (23:20) |
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| Erg goed stuk en goed om te weten, thumbs up Bef! |
| born to expire |
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Posted on 05.02.2010 (12:18) |
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Gelukkig heb ik me weten te beperken tot de grote lijnen. Als ik de details had moeten uitlichten was ik nu nog bezig geweest.
Ik noem Backfire/Headfire lieden in gabbershirts, een optreden op A Nightmare In Rotterdam, pillen slikken en hakken op hardcore punk shows en ga zo maar door.
Als het allemaal niet zo bedroevend zou zijn, zou ik in schaterlachen zijn uitgebarsten... |
| SteemsHC |
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Posted on 05.02.2010 (12:33) |
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| jeetje wat een teleurstelling |
| koentor |
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Posted on 05.02.2010 (19:25) |
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| is dit al naar die figuur gestuurd? kan me mail van wyb(?) herinneren aan hem, maar omdat schrijvers graag recensies lezen lijkt me dat ook wel een idee. |
| born to expire |
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Posted on 06.02.2010 (11:46) |
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| De kans bestaat dat de schrijver de recensie inmiddels al heeft gelezen. Naar het schijnt heeft hij in december de discussie omtrent zijn boek op het blauwe bord gevolgd. Echter, wat mij betreft staat het een ieder vrij de man de review te mailen. |
| thia-jeroen |
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Posted on 12.02.2010 (13:30) |
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| Was het ook niet de bedoeling om de schrijver te gaan interviewen? Daar ben ik wel benieuwd naar. |
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