Three hapless friends—nervous Ewald, impetuous Broccoli, and seductive Elvira—are down on their luck, slightly unhinged, and determined to make it in bohemian Amsterdam. Together, they hatch a daring and foolish string of plots and schemes in order to make some impact on a world that could largely care less. They want to become famous actors, artists, con men and thieves, but most of all, the three want recognition; they want to make a dent in the world and have the world finally take notice. Silent Extras is an exuberant meditation on youth, waste, and the unstoppable power of comedy and farce. The novel is less a story of young people looking for meaning than it is a story of the young looking to undermine meaning. When the world makes no sense, all one can do is play along.
Author
Arnon Yasha Yves (Arnon) Grunberg is a Dutch writer. Some of his books were written using the heteronym Marek van der Jagt. In 1989 Grunberg made his acting debut in Maria's Cunt (de Kut van Maria); a short film by Dutch enfant terrible filmmaker Cyrus Frisch. Grunberg made his literary debut in 1994 with the novel Blauwe maandagen (Blue Mondays), which won the Dutch prize for the best debut novel that year. In 2000, under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt, he won the best debut prize again for his novel De geschiedenis van mijn kaalheid (The History of My Baldness). Grunberg publishes novels about once a year but also writes columns and essays in a wide variety of Dutch and international newspapers and magazines. He does not restrict himself only to the written media, but also reads a story for the radio every week and for some time he was host of a cultural television program. He also writes a blog for the literary Internet magazine Words Without Borders and his own site ArnonGrunberg.com. His novel Tirza won the Dutch Golden Owl Prize for Literature and the Libris Prize.[1] His books have been translated into many languages, including English, German, Japanese and Georgian. From 2006 Grunberg wrote various journalistic reports, for example about working undercover in a Bavarian hotel and his visit to Guantánamo Bay. Also he visited the Dutch troops in Afghanistan and the US Army in Iraq. In 2009 these reports were collected in the book Chambermaids and Soldiers.
