Een ‘impressive Dutch debut’ noemt The Economist de vertaling van De avond is ongemak. De roman werd eerder deze maand genomineerd voor de International Booker Prize 2020. Ook in de Times Literary Supplement (TLS) volop loftuitingen:

At times it’s hard to read, and yet, this debut novel, which first appeared in Dutch in 2018, is also beautifully tender and consistently compelling. […] Rijneveld, who grew up in a Reformed farming family, is a poet as well as a novelist, whose sensuous prose is filled with intoxicating imagery.

Al eerder prees The Guardian The Discomfort of Evening.

But this is a pretty remarkable debut. Confident in its brutality, yet contained rather than gratuitous, it introduces readers to both a memorably off-key narrator and a notable new talent.

In maart schreef ook The Irish Times al over de vertaling. De criticus kon het boek niet aan zijn moeder aanraden, maar vond het, na wat kritiek, toch een goed boek:

Rijneveld’s poetic prose, eloquently translated by Michele Hutchison, clashes and rattles against the horrors it describes, a constant fight between terror and beauty. It is a novel that does its best to make sure you won’t forget it anytime soon. Something I know my mother will absolutely never read.

Ook The New York Times besteedde aandacht aan ‘A Dark Debut Propels a Dutch Writer to Reluctant Fame’ met quotes van Rijneveld en vertaalster Hutchison. De Amerikaanse versie komt in september op de markt.