People with No Charisma
Published on 17. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-917189-03-3 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
'In her debut novel, and second work of fiction to appear in English following the lauded What I'd Rather Not Think About, Dutch author Jente Posthuma examines life with an anthropologist's sense of the absurd. She sets her sights on mundane family life, finding it both nightmarishly farcical and full of human warmth.' -- Declan Fry * ABC News * 'From award-winning Dutch author Posthuma comes this novella about a young Dutch girl growing up in a complex and unconventional family ... funny and poignant ... [A] thought-provoking novel about finding one's place in the world.' -- Merie Jacob * Booklist * 'There is a beautiful and misleading ennui around Posthuma's story. That may make it sound dull, but it is far from it! This is a darkly humorous story that is both compelling and insightful. So much happens with seemingly little action, but the breadth of the story is both contained and boundless.' -- Rosalind McClintock * Readings * 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 <i>The Dinner</i> Praise 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 <i>The Small Joys of Real Life</i> Praise 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 Paper *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
With flaps
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
176 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-917189-03-3 (9781917189033)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jente Posthuma is a Dutch writer whose first novel, People With No Charisma, was published in the Netherlands to critical acclaim. Her second novel, What I'd Rather Not Think About (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature. The English-language translation by Sarah Timmer Harvey was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. The translation rights of What I'd Rather Not Think About have been sold in more than fifteen countries. Posthuma's third book Witch! Witch! Witch! (2023) is an idiosyncratic and witty retelling of three ancient Dutch sagas. Posthuma is currently working on a memoir.
Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Reconstruction, their translation of stories written by the Dutch Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim was published in 2020, and their translation of Thistle by Nadia de Vries was published in 2024. Sarah's translations of Dutch-language poetry and prose have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Born in Australia, she lived and worked in the Netherlands for fourteen years before moving to New York City in 2013.
Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Reconstruction, their translation of stories written by the Dutch Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim was published in 2020, and their translation of Thistle by Nadia de Vries was published in 2024. Sarah's translations of Dutch-language poetry and prose have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Born in Australia, she lived and worked in the Netherlands for fourteen years before moving to New York City in 2013.