van der Heijden has written an intensely touching and intimate requiem for his 22-year old son, who died in a car accident in the spring of 2010. He describes memories of long lost times, reconstructs the events of that fatal night, and wonders what life would have had in store for Tonio if the entire world had shifted for a mere second to avoid the crash.The book is very long which makes it feel a bit 'too much' at times, especially near the end. And from time to time I can't get rid of the feeling that van der Heijden pays quite some attention to the flaws and 'small sides' of the people around him, and rarely to his own.The story has little structure, but this helps in depicting the period of despair his wife and him went through after the accident and while writing the book. It is impossible to not wipe away a tear when several pages of happy memories are violently ended by a dark sentence about the unavoidable reality, cutting through your flesh and through your heart. Tonio is not here anymore. But van der Heijden has done everything he can to remember his son in the best way possible.
